001this guy. All right. Um, I'd like to call the meeting to order. It's Tuesday, April 8th, 7:02 p.m., can you do roll call, please? Johnson here. Frost here. Burns here. Spurlock here. War absent. Kim here. Carney here. Meeting call to order 703. All right. Um, we will start off with public comment. Thanks everyone for coming out tonight. Uh, as I hope folks appreciate, we uh, value your input and your engagement. Uh, a few things to note about public comment. When your name is called, please step up and state your name for the record. Public comments are limited to three minutes. If the time is up, while you're still speaking, please finish your thought and conclude. Uh, and if you have written comments, please hand them to LE. After you're done, she will put them into
002the minutes. Uh we request that speakers conduct themselves with respect towards others. And with that, I will call up Candace Ward. I'm Candace Ward. I'm a parent. Y'all already know who I am. I've been sending y'all emails. Y'all already know that y'all are part of my lawsuit. The last email I sent y'all don't have nothing to do with the lawsuit. I sent it before I went to file a petition for order protection for my daughter against John O'Brien. He is not in my lawsuit. So, I'm here to publicly state my record that I went through everything I needed to do to keep documented paper trail of me steady trying to reach out to get support before we have another incident where a white man is cornering my daughter and making her uncomfortable in what y'all
003supposed to be a diverse and equitable environment. and nothing about the way we've been treated has been diverse and showing equity. So, I'm here to publicly state on record asking someone, can you please respond to my email? I sent another one today because I don't understand why this why it's so hard for y'all to hold people accountable. Y'all haven't held Amy accountable. Y'all haven't held Felicia accountable. Y'all haven't held Ushma accountable. All these people are still on payroll in District 97. And meanwhile, they sending my family through hell from two or three school years ago. And here we are once again. I'm not here with no news because we already did that. Everybody already know how y'all are. It could it would have been really easy for me to go back to my attorney and
004try to keep on dragging out this lawyer stuff, which I told several times before it got to that that it wasn't about no money. It was about me advocating for my kids. and she sat in my face and smiled and dragged me on for three years and didn't even share with Gavin and the rest of you guys what was going on until I did in 2024. It's now April 2025. Everybody is aware of what's been going on and all of my concerns are falling on deaf ears and I'm getting really tired of it. As y'all know, I went to court yesterday and sat with my kids for 6 hours for a hearing just trying to get an order of protection for my babies so they can feel safe in the school. Nobody responded and did
005nothing. Mr. O'Brien is not a part of my federal lawsuit complaint. So, it's no reason why they could be addressed. Then y'all got him. He just came when all of this started, smiling in my face here today like I'm a regular community board, a member of the community with respect like he wasn't there yesterday. Listen to them people create this narrative about my babies because all I did was go there for order protection which I didn't expect no white judge to give to them two white men once he had time to read over our federal case. So, I didn't go there with the expectation that it was going to get granted. I went there with the expectation that you would see that I'm going above and beyond, missing work, getting new jobs, losing them, having
006to quit them because all I do is go back and forth to the school to try to advocate for my kids. Then to find out that my baby got kicked off track today after you all knew that the teachers were sending them work home since I was keeping them home from school because they didn't feel safe. The only way I can go to work is if I know they're home. So, they've been getting work sent in Google Docs for the last three or four weeks. And my baby went to a track meet and she won first place in two relays yesterday. Excited to go to the next upcoming track meet and then she go to school today and Mr. Taler Rico had to tell her she can't be on the track team even though she
007already been on the track team. So I know y'all ain't going to give me no response right now, but I just want to make sure everybody hear me. I know for a fact as I've stated time and time again, you make 200 and something thousand a year. Felicia make almost $200 some thousand dollar a year. Amy make hundred some thousand dollar a year. Morel O'Brien, all of them make way more than Mr. Harvey who got put out based off allegations from just some kids. And DCFS and already found him innocent. He still ain't back at work. But these white men can do whatever they want to do. The least y'all can do is kick Miss O'Brien out of school until my baby can finish the school year out like y'all did Larry or send them
008to Brooks or something. And my kids shouldn't have to stay home because they don't feel safe. And they damn sure shouldn't have to come to school and feel unsafe and not be able to focus. Serena Griffin. Sorry. Hello, my name is Serenity Griffin. Speak up so it will be Hello, my name is Serenity Griffin. Me and my sister have constantly been attacked and antagonized which result today. Me and my sister did not attending school and doing homeschool. Mind you, we have still been been trying to turn in all of our work and we both have been maintaining all A's and B's for the whole entire school year. I've been going to practice and meet since the season started and now today I come to practice and get told I can't run in meets anymore after
009I got first place in both of my events. I'm just coming I'm just coming to to all of you as a helping hand. my sister and I just want to go back to school and feel safe and not teachers harassing us. We may not be perfect, but we are good students, not bad kids. We only have a few weeks left in school and I'm just coming to you guys for a helping hand. Thank you. Thank you. Marie Jones. Good evening everyone. I'm here u I am a CA Julian and I'm here on behalf of support for students of Serenity and Autumn. Um I want you all to know that um I've had the pleasure of knowing this family um for over six years. I've enjoyed interacting with them um their son, her oldest son was
010at Julia when I first got there. However, I build a good rapport with many parents as well as this family here. um to speak in the recent present. I'm going to speak on behalf of Serenity and Autumn and how I've grown to make a good connection with them and Julian because um they are very wonderful children. They greet me every single morning with a smile. They're always pleasant. They're never disruptive. And this year I became the head coach of Cheer. as the head coach of cheer, we had over 70s something ch uh girls that wanted to be a part of it. We had to narrow it down to 50 something. And then out of that, we had certain kids that chose to be. However, um Serenity was part of the cheer team. She part of
011the cheer team. We made the cheer team last through the whole year. We wasn't cutting it off. But one thing about Serenity that we found out through the whole season and not just in cheer is that she's very dedicated and loyal to what she does. She's good at what she does. Even through Black History uh we had the special event of Black History. She performed. She have choreographed the dances that we had as well. Her grades are exceptional. Autumn as well. She's a wonderful student as well. She's a great student. Wonderful grades. These are wonderful children. And to hear today that um that they've been kicked off the track due to the fact of whatever reasons that they're not in school is very disheartening to hear. I miss them. I really do because they bring
012so much joy in the building. Like I say, they are very malmannered children and we have no behavior problems. And every time you see them, every time I see them, they greet me with a smile. And I believe that's such a blessing for Julian to have children like Autumn and Serenity there. So I ask that you do listen to what has been given to you. Please allow them to come back because when you take things like this away from children, it makes them feel like they're not wanted. They don't belong. And so right now they're feeling unsafe for whatever reason, but we know that within them we want them to be continue to be who God created them to be. And so I'm here in supporting Autumn and Serenity because I know that they can
013continue to be who they were created to be. Thank you. Thank you. Um Okay, those are all the public comments that we have tonight. So that takes the superintendent. Thank you. Um over here so I can see the screen. All right. So good evening everyone. Um wanted to start with uh some celebrations. We you know we've asked our uh community to send photos. So, we have uh a celebration around the Polar Plunge where members of our staff raised $22,000 uh jumping into like some cold water there. So, you see some pictures and a lot to be proud of around how our staff and our community come together around uh you know matters that that uh that value that we value in our community. This is um at the for the Special Olympics. Um we also
014want to just uh let everyone know you know we're continuing to work on this um idea around heritage an annual celebration calendar. So we have the calendar the regular calendar on the agenda for approval uh tonight. And then we're also thinking about how do we have an annual celebration calendar that elevates different identities throughout the year. So in April we want to recognize Arab American Heritage Month, also Autism Acceptance Month. And uh this month we also are uh partnering with our local um you know partners at the library, the park district and D200 to have a multicultural festival. Uh that's on April 26. That's a Saturday at Skoville Park. So, um, we'll be, you know, thinking about how do we, um, you know, make sure we participate in a a community that is, uh, lifting
015and and celebrating all of our, um, all of our diversity. And we also want to recognize this month, um, National Assistant Principles Week. Um, that's the first week in April. Um, also in April is school librarian appreciation day and national administrative professional day. on April 23rd, we have staff recognition across all the different groups in May in our district. So, uh that's when we'll be, you know, officially celebrating, but we want to make sure that uh we're also recognizing these national uh recognitions. So, thank you to all the people who uh you know, do the very different roles that support our students in all these different um all these from all these different angles in our in our schools. Also, we're thinking about transitions. We're getting close to the end of the school year and
016so thinking already about next year. And so, uh we've got uh middle school connections. Yeah. Last year was our first year for the our rising sixth graders. This year we'll have uh you know our second annual middle school connections and that'll be from August 12th to the 14th uh at both Brooks and Julian Middle School. So, we're thinking about certainly that transition from 5 to 6. We're also thinking about that transition from, you know, preK to kindergarten um and from, you know, sometimes for our students from home to kindergarten. And so on, um, May 18th, we'll have that blast off to kindergarten. And, uh, last time we had, uh, some of our principles and others in a bubble machine and, uh, other like really good time at real RE Park. And so, we're looking forward
017to that for all of our new families. And then I want to transition to tonight. So tonight um on the agenda is a um Michael Arensdorf and Will Brackett will be coming up to talk about uh our technology um you know technology uh investment and our next steps with our technology planning. And so, um, as before, before before they come up, we wanted to invite up, um, uh, two of our teachers and as well as a student and, uh, a family to kind of talk about a an interesting and important story that points to why these technology investments are important. So, um, I'm I what I'm holding here are, where are you, Louie? Does this look familiar? Have you seen this before, Louie? Yes. Yes. So, this is Louis's uh book and um Louie um
018is going to come up in a little while and talk about how this book uh connects to something really important that we're trying to do here in D97. And we're excited that you're here, Louie. Thank you for coming. And we're going to invite uh Louie, your family, and our um our teachers um Molly Masters and and Ryan Winell to come up. And before we do that, I can uh put up a little video of their principal kind of sharing the kind of framing the story of h what happened. So I was at an event at Longfellow. That's when I learned the story. And and here's their principal, Amy Jefferson. Whoops. Talking about um talking about what uh what this activity is about. Good evening, D97 board members and Dr. Shaw. I'm excited to speak briefly
019in support of the incredible work being done by Miss Masters and Mr. Winchell, particularly around their intentional use of technology to support all learners. This past February, in celebration of Black History Month, Miss Masters and Mr. Winchell collaborated with our librarian, Miss Sheay, to help students use different search engines and digital resources when doing their research. And what's powerful is how they didn't just assign a project, they personalized it. When one student expressed interest in animals and wildlife, they encouraged him to explore the world of black zoologologists, a field where representation is rare. That curiosity led them to Craig Safo, one of the only black zoologologists in the country. And even more impressively, they facilitated a Zoom interview so students could learn directly from him. That moment was more than just an assignment. It was
020an open door to new possibilities of how learning can be used to shape minds. So, thank you, Miss Masters and Mr. influential for going above and beyond, for making learning relevant, inclusive, and exciting, and for showing students that their identities matter. And when technology is used intentionally, it can be a bridge to deeper learning, engagement, and connection. Thank you. And we'd like to welcome uh Ryan, Molly, uh Louie, come on up with your family. We'd love to hear your story. You brought gifts. Thank you. I'll do this side for you. Thank you. Of course. And you can come on over here. We haven't done this before. Glad you're here. Extra cheerleaders. Good. You want your mouth? Come on. Welcome. We're so glad you're here. Well, thank you. Welcome. Welcome to all of you. and I
021know that you uh had a few uh words that you wanted to share about how we got here. So, thank you for having us today and special thanks to Dr. Shaw for the invitation and for coming to visit our book signing and thank you for the board for having us. Um I'm Ryan Mitchell. This is Molly Masters and this is our guy Louie. Um and we are co-teers in the second grade classroom at Longfellow School. Um there are 20 21 students in our class. Seven of them have IEPs. Um, we are joined in our class every day by three amazing teaching assistants, Mr. Slater, Miss Davis, and Miss Mindy. Um, although we're here to talk about one of our students, this story involves all of them. Each day, they fill our room with laughter and
022kindness and a thirst for learning. They are part of a unique community full of diverse learners. We work every day to provide a place where each student is able to share their strengths and struggles in a safe place that not only tolerates differences, but celebrates them. Um, and one of our amazing students is Louie. If there's one thing you need to know about Louie, he loves animals. Um, he also loves talking about animals and he loves going to the zoo. And so we have nicknamed him affectionately Zookeeper Lou. And our class just loves learning from him. And so he's the reason we're here today. So, for the last three years, our class has written biographies of black Americans for Black History Month. Students research African-Americans and write a biography all about their lives. They start
023with the early years and then we move on into their importance and legacy and then we finish off with their and we conclude with their older years. Um, students usually choose, you know, John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. and Simone Biles and others. Um, and students were really excited to learn about all of these amazing people. All of the students except Louie. He wanted right away he wanted to study an animal. And so we first he wanted to study a giraffe and then we wanted to study he wanted to study an elephant. And I think at some point he wanted to study a zebra and a gazelle. Um, and so we knew that we had our work cut out for us and we quickly discovered that there's not many African-Americans in the animal community.
024They're pretty underrepresentative. Um, and so with some searching, we were able to find someone who was working at the Smithsonian Zoo, National Zoo, um, in Washington DC. And his name is Craig Sappo. And not only is he a curator of big cats at the National Zoo, he also has worked to increase the number of African-Americans um going into the field of zoologology, which leads us to technology. Uh through email, LinkedIn, and Facebook, we were able to reach out to Craig Sappo. We could never imagine that not only would we find someone so perfect for Louise biography but a person who is a kind loving person who was willing to give his time and his knowledge to our whole class. Uh we set up a time where we could meet on Google meets. All of our
025students were in this together. All of them uh created questions and had the opportunity to ask them in real time. We were lucky enough to have Louis mother join us. Um he patiently answered each question. He praised each of them for their great insights. After talking to us for close to an hour, he took us behind the scenes to watch them feed a bentron, which is a bear cat. Neither a bear nor a cat, but that's what it looks like right here. Um, we were enthralled. It was amazing. And he was in no hurry. He was just so kind to all of us. Um, we recorded the hourlong meeting and Louisie was able to rewatch it and take notes with one of our teaching assistants, Mr. Slater. Um technology played not only role in Louis's
026project but for everyone. Um as Miss Jefferson said, Miss Shay, our librarian um used search engines to find quality and useful information. Students use that knowledge to fill their gaps in their research. Other students use text to speech and co-writer to write their projects with the assistance of one of our OT's, Miss Champagne, and the district's assisted technology coordinator, Miss Lenso. And so, as you have already learned, Louie loves animals and he loves to learn, teach, and share about all animals. It's animals, animals, animals. What did you say, Luke? Animals all the time. Where's your favorite place to go? Africa. you. So, he was even on the Kelly Clarkson show over um Christmas break, winter break, because he had asked Kelly Clarkson and he or no, he asked you as Santa to go for a
027trip to Africa. Um, so that you could see what animals I want to see. A lion, a cheetah and giraffe and a gazelle and a and a lion and a hippo. Mhm. So when we were able to form lessons that were connected to animals, he's all in. Whether it's brain breaks or math problems, he's all in. if we tie it to animals. But as soon as we're not able to tie it to animals, we saw some struggle, right? It just it always had to connect to animals. And so with us finding Craig Safo, everything began to change. Everything began to change. And Louie went from saying, "I'm bored in school and avoiding work to really pursuing learning." Um he began to enjoy learning and he would share about Craig Sappo across the entire school day
028and to anyone who would listen. Um he would find Miss Wiggle in the hallway and tell her something or Miss Jefferson or Miss Morris. Anyone he could find he would share about Craig Sappo. I'm pretty sure he Craig Sappo is someone that you talk about a lot at home too. All the time. All the time. Um it really opened up his world. But it opened up so much more than just talking about the zoo. He became so motivated in school and I have an example for you. In math prior to us starting this project, Louie was working mostly in a small group with one other student and they would work on singledigit addition problems and he had a lot of regularly scheduled breaks every five minutes or so. And after we began studying Craig Sacko,
029we just s and this this person and how we connected it to Louis, we just saw him thrive all over in academics. And so he went from being pulled into a small group to wanting to be part of our full group lesson. And he wanted to learn how to add and subtract large numbers with him without regrouping. He didn't want to take the breaks that were in his schedule. He wanted to work on the challenge problems that others were working on. We just saw everything. We just saw your whole brain grow and you just worked so hard with Craig Safo's help kind of and motivation. Um, so yeah, uh, let me think. So this has been a big win for everyone. And just today, Mr. Safo wrote our class and he said that Louie had
030the heart of a lion. And if you know Louie, that's the biggest compliment of them all. Thank you. Thank you. Um, Lou, would you want to share anything about Dr. Sappo? Yes. What would you like to share? Saf is a zookeeper and he lives at the zoo. He work with gutter cats. Can you tell them what a gutter cat is? I don't think they know. A gutter cat is a little cat. It's sharp and it's a gutter. It got stuck in the It got stuck in the in the gutter. In the gutter, right? And the sewer. And so he saved them. So he saved them. And can you tell anyone everyone about the bear cat or the the drum that we we met? His name is Hank and and he eats more food than grapes.
031That's right. Yeah. Eats grapes. Grapes. It was really cool. It was really neat. It came out of its like cage that it was in even for us. Right. Do you remember it? Like kind of started to walk in the hallway. Yeah. Lou, thanks so much for sharing your story with us. Your book? Yeah. In your book. Lou, I wonder if you could tell us what why did you like this project? Yes. What did you like about it? At the back of the back at the back of the book, you have to draw your animals. You have to draw all my animals. Can you tell us which ones those are? This is a This is a sloth. This is a crocodile. And this is a hippo. Oh, wow. We love and we love learning from you
032and we want to thank you for being here tonight and for taking the time to share your, you know, your story and what you did. I think there's so much we want to celebrate. And I want to say to Molly and Ryan, um, also just as we think about what we're here to do, you know, we talk a lot about core instruction and that it's about that first instruction for everyone. And when you're talking about, you know, when Louie wants to be part of that classroom instruction and being motivated to like learn more math and learn more reading and writing, I I guess I just want to say that sometimes we'll hear like and say these ed you speak words, but the words here are really important. This is about core instruction. This is about
033learning in teachers being learning designers. It's about personalized learning. It's about assisted technology, universal design for learning, embedded career education, standardsbased learning of writing, research, genres, biographies, and there's just so much to celebrate around how our teachers and our students are coming together to use technology to make the world bigger. And so, um, we just really want to thank you for the example and want to thank you, Louie, and you, Louis. um you know for uh for what's represented here in terms of like um you know thinking differently about how we come together to learn in our schools. Thank you. And can I just say one quick thing? I just want to acknowledge that Miss Masters and Mr. Winchell went above and beyond. You know, finding Dr. Sappa was one thing, but reaching out to
034him, doing the Zoom, all of that was completely above and beyond. And I just want to thank them again. We're happy to do it. Any questions or any um things from the board? I have one. I just seen all y'all faces light up while Louie talk and that's really nice of Louis, I think that's very dope. I think that you're a really cool kid and I love what you're doing. However, I was starting to think y'all didn't have no emotion cuz I've been asking y'all for three years. So this same energy y'all put into all this so you could look like you doing your job cuz you put that energy into getting my kids back in a safe environment so they can read and do school stuff like Louis cuz they've been out of school
035for a month. So you ask any questions this is not the time for this. It it's never the time. So that was my question to us. But thank you for responding because you never respond either. Okay. So I know you hear me now. Hey Lou, can I ask you a question? Is this you on the back of the book too? That is me. That's what I love. Thank you so much. Thank you for having us. Go. [Music] All right. Uh that takes us to 7.1 district transformation goal area update 3C technology plan update and recommendations. Yep. We have Michael Arensdorf uh coming up um our chief technology officer and Will Brackett our director of information technology. [Music] So thanks. All right. Good evening. uh thanks for the opportunity to come and I following that's pretty
036tough um that type of experience and opportunity what Luis is doing in Miss Masters and Ryan um which they'll do within their class and provide those experiences. I know that there's a lot more that that's happening. Um and I know that's not everything that we referenced in here, but it's just those experiences to be able to highlight and kind of call out um that are just it'll extend outside our classroom. So tonight talk a little bit about the technology planner review and find connections to a number of those things that were kind of said there but also a number of other collaborations with other people and and what we're doing here at district 27. So Dr. Shaw introduced us uh Michael Arn Bracket uh the rest of our team too. Adam Tamchinsky works a lot
037with our devices. He deploys the apps and and manages those. And then our technology specialist, Paul Duda, Chris Koff, Jamari Perkins, Brian Hernandez, Tiffany Reed, and Carl Marchinowski supported all of our buildings across all our students, our staff, our families um to be able to within the devices, but all the applications and programs as well and things that come up any day. Um they're they're the ones that are out there doing that work and and supporting our our community. Um, as within our department, you've seen this slide before. We talked last time was probably looking at registration, but this is the work that we're talking about today is not about the technology. It's about what Lou just talked about and what Miss Masters and Mr. Winshell talked about. It's the core instruction. It's what's going
038on in the classroom. This is just to support and enhance and kind of take it to that next level and ensure that that access is there when that thing that Mr. Mr. Winchill and Miss Masters even knowing Louie for how many other months didn't they didn't know that in January when they came back that that was going to be where that went to but they knew that they could count on it just a little bit of outreach a little bit of support that it was going to kind of branch out to that type of situation and that's where we're like how do we make sure that this infrastructure and these access to our families are there whether it's in the class or that might happen when they go over to the CRC or the library
039or wherever they're at they have that opportunity they're connected um and that's the support to all of these different areas and the support that we get from all of these areas in that collaboration to ensure that what the kids experience and our teachers experience is um anything that they can dream up and think about. So we'll talk a little about our process and story um some recommendations and then next steps um specifically around our our device refresh for students and some of the staff devices. uh we look at our transformational goals while I have the we align resources while this kind of lives specifically there it is directly connected as I just said with our design for all and our core instruction what's happening there and even that point of of how do we learn
040outside of the classroom and this example um highlights that as well so our journey and why so when we think about what we're trying to do we talk about we want to make sure that they have the infrastructure and the resources but we think about specifically How can we be agile and be able to pivot and provide those resources to do those things are extremely critical? Uh when we think about our vision, strategic plan, strategic priorities specifically around portrait like there are a number of those dimensions that I just think about like with the power by literacy and specifically the digital navigator and career exploration, global connect. All of those things kind of tie back to just that one example of Louisie in that class, but there are so many other things that are happening
041um and and where we're really grounded and some of that future work around this. So, uh again, there's so much work and you've heard that from a number of things from the team and where we've gotten to with the portrait and where that's going to go is exciting where we can kind of align and support that work too. um process. So the tech plan and where we're coming to today. Uh I know that there are three things that are kind of highlighted. Um and those are three small things over this class this school year. uh but it was really grounded in in what we've done on the iLearn advisory and you've heard that and you saw my memo and it's I know it's long but just giving the historical perspective for the last 10 years
042of where we've gone in this journey from shared environment to one and we've learned a lot more and it's way more than those devices um has really set that foundation and that's not just what is here today it's from that work and that design thinking and the collaboration from a number of stakeholders so but specifically through this year some of the things that have happened. So we think about like auditing specification that goes into reviewing what's going on now what's the landscape look like what are the needs that we have within that collaboration between the different departments whether it's pilots or whether it's new curriculum resources or assessments all of those things have kind of fed to what did that RFP or what's that request from our proposals to different vendors to look like um
043so that happened in those first uh kind of leading up over the last whatever six seven months um as part of that too, stakeholder outreach. So we reached out to our community uh reached out to other districts as well, learning from them, hearing what they had to say. Uh but specifically, we had 403 responses. Some of those were and we worked with uh Ed Counsel were um kind of advised like on the younger grades like it's not always easy for a kid, kindergarten kid to respond to that survey. So some of those responses are like classroom responses too um around that. And then we did hold 16 focus groups with students uh from I believe it was did you have a third grade? I think we were at third grade through eighth grade is with
044the group of kids that we had from across the all of the buildings. Had a group I had like an open Zoom or open Google meet all day for teachers to just pop in what was accessible for them. Um, so had a number of teachers that did that and then met with the OPTA leadership to kind of talk through what were they hearing and and and feedback around what does their experience look like if you like and what were the things that they would advise and answered some similar questions. So that's that's what some of that outreach look like and we kind of pulled all of that together to form some of the recommendations for today. Future work as I talked about too is that portrait advisory. So looking at that if you want to
045say like a version of what I learn advisory look like. So leveraging that group and that vision and have it being grounded in the portrait not in will not in mine what we're thinking but how do we let that drive the outcomes of where we're looking. So some of that cross department collaboration um again I could just say like experiences like what Louis talked about but like at some other foundation pieces of this too and you've seen this slide Dr. Shaw shared this I think at the last board meeting and it's kind of leading up to some other conversations and things that you over the next few board meetings but thinking about the curriculum resources and pilots and what does that look like and I remember asking core instruction like which one of those as
046you think about that have some level of a tech component to it and they're like all of them. So, and not that it's a driving piece that it has to be that, but that's a piece of how does the technology enhance the experience and the opportunity that we have. And there's a number of things that we heard from kids saying, I like to be able to demonstrate my learning and sometimes through the device and through some of the applications and programs and sometimes I don't. I want to do it this way. So, being able to have that opportunity to do that and this is just again some of that close connection and work with core instruction. We think about assessments. Another piece of that, some of these obviously if we think of like IR, ISA,
047like there are options to do it still on paper for districts that say they don't have access, they don't have reliable access or any of that. That's not our scenario. Uh but there are a number of these assessments that we couldn't do that way. We couldn't gather that data and pull these different metrics together to help us inform where are we going, what do certain groups of students need, what do they have, or what are their strengths and areas for improvement. Um, and then I have like just an icon of the power power school unified insight. So it's that dashboard. If we think back, it's been what two years when we brought that on and talked a lot about that being able to really streamline there's attendance data, there's grades, there's all of these types
048of assessments and really triangulate all of that data to help us inform where what what students need or groups of students. So just some examples of of where that ties into as well. And and you heard a little bit of this Dr. I'll reference it to it u with our student services department and and Sherry Lenzo, they talked about that with Miss Master said how much they work to support some of these accessibility features and accommodations for our students. Um and the thing that that really talking and working with Sherry so much is like it's not that like is helpful for some there's also these resources that like for all of our students at different times and places. So these are resources that are available to all of our students, not just a group of
049our students. Um, and that's a been a powerful u resource and availability too. And I think Michael, when you're talking about that, this when we talk about universal design for learning, what we're saying is just like what Michael said, those tools are available for everyone. So if you want to use that pathway and providing some choice in how you demonstrate that you're mastering the standards, you know, and that's a a key uh aspect of what we're trying to do. Uh current landscape. So where it comes from the timing I know I'm jumping to different things but when we think about the landscape now and there's some alignment of things that we do some timing of it just happened that way but there's a lot of strategy and conversations and connections to things. So, um, the
050first one just like even conversations within our our our leadership and our school about what are budgets looking like and what does that look like for the future and the impact of what we're asking today on other things and how do we align and and work to make sure that we're offsetting some of those costs or keeping them at as low as we can and and doing that recommendation so the core instruction and things in the future that come up can happen and and that we can do within our budget. um specifically around the devices and I'll talk iPads initially. So we were we've been tracking for a little bit on when is the new release of the iPad going to come out um and kind of monitoring because in the past whenever we've done
051this we're about 18 months beyond because they don't release they Apple wasn't releasing a lot of devices till the fall and we would need them for the fall. So we were always having to get them right like a long lead time after they were released. I don't know if that makes sense. So yes, this year we've been kind of tracking. We're looking at space and different feature things that we are hearing from from students and staff about the space and running into problems. We were experiencing that. So we were monitoring, okay, what what does the new device look like and what is the space and all of that? Well, it aligned and in March, early March, they released their new device and then started shipping it mid-March. So it has a much greater capacity within
052the device which is going to give us a lot more availability to just longevity of those devices, I guess. Um, so part of this recommendation, we typically do a student refresh every four years. For the iPads, we're recommending for them to go for five years because we're getting them right on the front end of that. So, total cost of ownership and all of that stuff, we're expecting to to be in a better situation than we've had to in the in the past. Then for the Chromebooks, um there's been a lot more conversation around that and how the impact that they're going to have on the tariffs will have on those and and that. So some of that was aligning when we put the RFP out to try to get on the front end of that
053and lock in our quotes and our purchasing for that. Um so they would carry that. So for this specifically, it's not just putting a date out there because it is, but the device that we're looking at is the Lenovo and they have recently they said after like the first week in April that those tariffs will kick in on future purchases or quotes or anything. So right now we have until that 25th before we potentially have tariffs that would kick in on our pricing. So we're locked in on all of those pricing until that piece. Um, I'll talk about the revenue grant like we continue to seek those operate opportunities and things that are out there in the future. I'll go through a slide of like the last five years of what that's looked like. Uh,
054but I know like the future of - also come a continuing thing that we're looking at and what does that impact for us. Um, so there's a couple different things for our district specifically around -ate. Last year was a big infrastructure piece that when Will and I came and talked about and we've upgraded our wireless a number of our hardware infrastructure that's going to set us up for 10 years 10 years plus. Um so we're in a good position for the short range and we're able to use funding for that which we got about $400,000 back. The biggest impact uh well before I go to that the other one was the in 2019 when we partnered with the village for our fiber that was one of our largest bills on an annual basis when we
055partnered with them had a huge cost savings and a long-term commitment. Um and that's 20 years with the potential for another 20 years after that. So those are two usual big items that come under. And so right now what we're talking about our impact is around internet. It's not a small number. Um, so I'll go to that now. Like when we look at it and I'm going to go backwards. This is not the way I'm talking about it. So do at the bottom, those are two things that the state picks up that tab. We don't pay any of that. Um, if was impacted, that would be something that we'd have to reconsider and look at for that. Again, that's an offering that the state offers to districts that apply for it because they're providing infrastructure.
056They're providing the internet access. So they're covering the bill. It's a It was a grant application that we could go out and be able to do. Uh and we did that 2020 was the first time that was when they came out. It was like I'll be like a lot of conversations like how's this going to look? Is it going to work? And we just put it out and we were awarded and we're able to have that infrastructure and and and bandwidth for that. So they cover that. Again, it could be already changed. There could be some things that we'd have to really think about our connections and how do we want to do this and there could be some streamline to be able to do that but why just Brooks? So we have it at
057the it's actually two connections. We have a connection here and that's we use we segment it out so our staff connections and then we have another location that has other traffic that goes through that. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Yep. Um so that's the ongoing I talked about the fiber with the village and then um -ate talked about those numbers over the last four years and then the big ones again those were a number of years ago now but if you remember the ECF grant um for our student and our staff devices in 2021 it's about $1.25 to $5 million that we were able to recoup back. So, it's really a large portion of the last refresh was able to be covered with that. And then the year before that when CO hit, we didn't have devices
058in K1. Um, so we're going into CO and be able to provide that access. There was a grant that we're able to leverage for that as well. Um, the last one was last year. there was some additional funding that we were able to do for AV work to take some of our oldest projectors and electrical work to do that. So those are the last five years there number of grants I I mean the landscape's changing and what grants are available so what that looks like in the future but those have been some things that we've been able to offset and really uh do more with less and and do over the last five years. I talked a little bit about the stakeholder outreach and the number of surveys and things and and as we did
059that similar to like I know portrait went out to different groups and then they came back and kind of checked certain things. So this is a group of our middle schools after we got some initial feedback and we got some devices in hands cases and all of that we went back out. So you see some pictures with a couple of our techs, Brian Hernandez and Paul Duda working with our middle school students to kind of get their feedback on on the devices on their devices with cases, what their thoughts of the cases were because in the past four we did we did not have cases on them. U and they were really positive and supportive and and that's what's leading to the device and the case. Um again, I know we have 1,800 kids or
060so. We can't make everybody happy, but again a lot of feedback lent towards the recommendation that we're at. Um this next slide just talks a little bit about like big focus things that or what we heard as overarching things. So kids love the different tools and applications to be creative and collaborative. Uh the keyboard case was a hit. So with the elementary kids having the Logitech keyboard and be able to do that. And then towards this last year when the trackpad keyboard case came out, kids are like what do I need to do to that? And I was like, I don't want to tell you what you need to do to do that because it'd be uh probably your case not working in however fashion you want to make that not work. But um so
061they they like that the upgrade specifications for the Chromebooks. Uh I mean I I went into different grade levels and and again Will and our team were also involved in those focus groups, but I had an eighth grade class specifically and they're like, "Do you really want to know what we want and what we think about?" and they got in like super a couple of them got really technical and was like here's the processor, here's what the camera needs to be able to be improved to and and and got into some of those things. So, it was really helpful and that's that fed a lot of the what we're looking for. Obviously, there's limits to that. Uh but um uh was was really good feedback for the next one is just like that kids are
062using them in all different academic areas. It's not just math or ELA, it's the specialist electives and having that access and opportunity. So the last thing you'll kind of see in a future slide around like mixed feedback around home use um and and what that looks like at a K2 level versus really like a six seven and even a fourth and fifth. Um so as part of our recommend like we've had access to carts and tech tubs and things at the lower levels. So continuing to do that in the future so like they don't have to go home at that lower level every single day. All right, I'm not going to read through all these strengths opportunities. Uh there's a number of things within that I've mentioned already. Uh continue like the online access, safe
063YouTube, Google safe search. Uh kind of counter to that some of the filtering like we've been looking at a new filtering solution over this year because of the parent portal and feedback that we've had and and what that looks like and access for that. Um which ties to some of the data stuff too. I can think back to probably three or four years ago like how do we get that access of how often are they on the devices? How often are they using specific applications? And there's ways that we can get some of it with the Chromebooks because they're web- based. Once you get into Apple, like you have Apple devices, like you can get screen time and if you have it through your family, you can start to see what the kids are doing.
064Apple doesn't let us do that at a district level even though we own all of those devices. So there's other ways that we could do this and one of the filtering solutions we believe we can get a little bit more granularity to that. Um it's not 100% because if they are apps you can't pull some of that data because Apple just doesn't let us do that at this time. Uh but there are ways like they gave like you can route them to the web- based application rather than the native app that's on there which takes away functionality. Uh, but that's there are some options and and I think that's only future availability to do and we just keep pushing Apple to let us do that and be able to inform what's happening. I don't know
065why. Can you just put a thing on like can you just download software out of their all their school iPads before you send them out and then you have all that data? There's got to be an application for that. You want to go? No, I don't want to be go too deep. the the pro the problem is there there is uh app there's app isolation on Mac on Mac devices the iPad the phone really went together it's a consumer device it's always been meant to be a user level device um it's not an enterprise device where we would have a lot of these tools where we would on a Windows or Chromebook and such like that and ideally it would be great if we could have this master um app that would do that kind
066of thing, but security-wise that also could be turned in to monitoring everything. And usually you'd have to jail what they call jailbreak or sideloadad some of this stuff. And we definitely would uh don't want to mess with our warranties on some of that stuff. So So in an inst Yes, we could. No, we don't. So there there's more and we do like the tool that we're looking at has given us would would give us more than we've been able to do in the past and I just think like we've seen that exponentially change over the last few years and um so we're we're excited where that could be also for the filtering to families and first half to really kind of be a little bit more granular with that to ensure a good experience or
067better experience. So um anything else? Anything else? One thing I do want to like the strength and and when I heard from the OPTA um the last time we did a refreshing giving devices to TAS was we we talked about giving them the same device that kids have that they're supporting and they continue to support that purpose and that need to do that in this refresh as well. There's challenges at times when a TA goes from the middle school to an elementary or vice versa. So we give a little bridge, we give a little grace to like making that transition, but still feel and and they felt very important that it's the same device to be able to continue to provide that support to um all right budgets. So I'm going to break it into
068two. So the Chromebooks are one and that will be that would be recommendation for one lease versus the iPads being another lease. Okay? So the top three items are all tied into one purchase, one lease. They are, as you read in the memo, there's two different vendors. And so as this process went through, we asked for everything in one. But then we quickly once we got the proposal identified like, well, we like this price on the Chromebooks. We don't like your price on the ADP repairs and all of that. So then we broke that off and asked all the vendors to say, hey, here's our device. Give us an updated ADP. And that's what then selected to that. And then they also provide like white glove. Part of that is that they'll asset inventory do
069any updates for us and all those things and the a the Chromebooks not acers the the Lenovo Chromebooks like updates are happening as you know on Google. So we want to make sure when they come out they have that. So that would be all of what we'd be looking at. Um that same type of process that we did with the device in the ADP we also then do to leasing companies. So we put it out to leasing companies and ask hey here are our devices. Give us the best rate that you can do. um and conversations even today that stuff is super volatile and there are things that are still changing. So uh we've had some things that have even come down slightly from their initial quote. So we'll work to lock that in and
070bring back an act the final recommendation of what that is and conversations with with finance and reproce around what does that look like and and best situation for financing. Then the next group is the iPad. So, uh, you see on their prek share. It is not a onetoone. It's not even a cart per classroom. So, we're looking at Whittier and Longfellow. They have a cart. They have some access to their pre-K, but it's not a we're using it every day, all day, anything like that. And we've worked a lot with Ebony and the prek and and what that looks like and making sure that the rest would be then K5 teacher or students and then teachers. So the teachers have the iPads, their MacBooks would be refreshed at a later time because there's still life
071left on those and and time span for that. Um and then the Logitech cases. So while we had some feedback towards this last year of that, Logitech has been a great partner and if there's something goes wrong with them, they're replacing that case through the life of the device with no cost and they're super great to work with. Um and again, a ton of feedback from from the students around those cases to to continue to have those. Um, the last thing on there is the K1 PreK1 devices. We didn't have a lot with the keywords for them, but a little bit more protective, different cases, and we think there's opportunity to save some money there. So, that's why we're proposing a different case. So, Apple does do a zero lease. So, they're able to offer
072a 0% interest, zero lease, 0%. That would be awesome. Um, a 0% interest over a 4year period of time. So the cost is the cost and they'll extend that over four years for for districts. So when we look at adding both of those two up um and this would be for next year. So we'd be asking on April 22nd for an approval of the tech plan like we typically will do it a year, but this is a commitment just again would be for the next four years. Typically we've done three years. We want to spread that dollar out. uh we didn't see the interest rates for the Chromebooks change is actually less for four years which I was surprised to see than a three-year lease. So extend that out and and lower that cost on
073an annual basis. Um as part of this too these conversations uh again talking about finance and projections that we work with Rob Gy to have when we think about the tech plan and the projections over a period of time having it we've got budgeted a million dollars on an annual basis. So we'll be well under that for this year and even projecting out for the next four years. Um last thing I will highlight typically what we will do uh we take those devices and we work with resellers. Same situation as what we did before we put it out to it was more than 10 vendors give us what your prediction or your pricing or budget or quote would be and then we'll sell it to them. They would then do a community buyback uh for
074some of the devices. will offer that out to families and and and our community staff to do that. And that is an as a a conservative number based on the quotes that I have of 250,000. We believe we'll get at least but probably more than that back for all of the devices that we would sell. That would just be the first year, right? First year. Yep. So it' offset this first year cost. So we're expecting it be 500. And honestly, it should be a little bit less than that, but I'm just conservative numbers. Um, so it'll be the first year impact to the budget. And then when we go out to year two, we're we're looking at 722 and that number changes because we don't have to buy those K1 cases again, right? Same thing
075for the following year, but this would be the year that we're then planning for the teacher devices and really it's more the teachers. Our AAS are using it, number of other staff across the district for that refresh of MacBooks and Apple TVs and classrooms. Um, so then it's nothing on the third year, but it's the fourth year that we would expect that lease to kick in at that point. Again, three years a lot of things change. So, we got to see what's going on with the with everything at that point in the landscape of everything. So, again, all underneath that budgeted and what's out there. I know that we're doing different things with um looking at the long range planning and what's going on. So, but we want to make sure we're as much under
076that as we can. So, I think oh quick next steps sorry finalize these contracts get those leasing agreements all of those things there develop a meditation plan and I've talked through the bottom three so I'm not going to talk through those ones but specifically like being like having ongoing plans with families of how are we supporting sessions resources out building that stuff out for how do we support them with what are the new tools and what are some of the help with the filtering or the monitoring or what does that look like not just on district but like you know they personal devices too, like just being that resource for our families. So, building out opportunities for them over the next year and beyond. Um, and then one other topic is just the I like
077what does AI look like in district 97 and digging in. I know a year ago we had a little bit of that specifically when we referenced AI with our network um and a tool I would miss and and all of that. So, like we've got some initial draft guidance working with teachers working and specifically with teacher librarians. have got some interest from them to engage in that conversation to then but there's other like talking with different districts of what they've done really at a high school level like having forums and inviting our families in and students to really think about what does that look like around AI in district 97 and then come back to the board to talk and and share a little bit more around that. So those are two big things that
078are a little bit aligned a bit different. So alongside this and that's it questions. Thank you. Some questions. I have a question about the device refresh for the teachers. Um, depending on what the whole tariff situation ends up, have we considered prolonging another year? Like I know there's kind of a cost benefit especially for reselling in terms of like what the value is of the resale but like I know my university has gone to a fiveyear rotation which we don't love I'll be honest but um I'm just kind of curious about the cost benefit of possibly extending it another year or if really the devices become kind of too outdated at that point in terms of what teachers need them for. I mean, I think a lot of what I'm using it for is probably
079lower level than what a lot of more at least more innovative educators might be using it for. Yeah, good question. So, for our students, it's been four years. For staff, we do we have been trying to go to five years. Um, and that's that is our target for the MacBooks. The iPads are already at that point. Yeah, I think we actually extended maybe to a six this last time, but it was definitely longer because we wanted to align and get the buying power and all of that stuff for their devices. Um, but we do for the MacBooks extended out to a fifth year. Um, and that will then align to with our iPads. And there was some stuff too of like trying to stay away from that fourth year where we're paying for both the
080MacBooks and iPads. And that's why we were doing three-year leases before because we didn't want to have that overlap as much as possible. But, um, I think by extending the prices, the annual expend. I have a quick comment that came up. Um, so first, um, thank you. Um, so I've come through this unit. Part of what suckered me into this whole D97 thing is being on the island committee. Um, so it's been really lovely to see how this program has progressed over the years. And one of the things I really appreciate is that you are centering it and grounding it in the education components because you know technology when thoughtfully used is very powerful. When it is not is when it goes ary. Um and so I just want to thank you and the district
081for really taking a look at carefully and continuously how this is being used as a support for the classroom not an end. um to that um I want to throw in as you're moving forward I know media literacy um standards are really strong in high school level um they are not as well fleshed out um in the K8 space but waiting till high school is too late um so information literacy media literacy the more you can incorporate those in um when you're working in the PD you included some PD materials which was again lovely and thoughtful. Um I think especially as we move into the realm of AI and and more things coming out faster and greater. Um incorporating those in as much as we can is going to help our students. Um related to
082that, I was also really excited that you um had parents back and families back on your docket um looking at things like, you know, how do you write a family agreement for technology use? that addresses, I think, some of the concerns of the parents have of, you know, this device is in my house. I don't my kid on it, and that's great. You know, here are some tools to how to set family limits and agreements. Um, so I really appreciate that you're looking at that. Um, and then just one final appreciation moment of, you know, with -ate on the chopping block at the moment and with tariffs coming in, I was very happy to see the thoughtfulness with planning ahead and thinking ahead and recognizing that that may not be there um or that costs
083are going to be going up. And so just from a fiscal perspective, I appreciate the thoughtfulness on that. Just a reminder that we'll be bringing this forward then for action on April 22nd and we'll make that uh amendment to the the plan for next board meeting. Okay. Thank you. All right. That takes us to the consent agenda. Can I get a motion on the consent agenda? I move that the board of education approve the consent agenda as presented. Uh quick pause. Do you have a Yes. Oh, there's a correction to the calendar. Oh, uh it the calendar's correct. The math was wrong. It said that it added up to 180 days. It's actually 182 days. So, I move that the board of uh education approve the consent agenda as presented, including the update at the
084table for section 8.4 4 to school calendar to correctly reflect the 182 date. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Morris acet Johnson. Yes. Kim, yes. Sterling, yes. Yes. Yes. Ros, yes. Motion passed. Okay, that takes us to action item 9.1, approval of audit findings. I move with the board of education district 97 approve the audit findings as presented on March 18th 2025 second Carney yes Kim yes Morris fur yes Burns yes yes yes motion pass item 9.2 Two, approval of district 97 and park district of Oak Park shared facilities IGA extension. And I that the board of education at Oak Park Elementary School District 97 approved the extension of the IGA for shared facilities with the Park District of Oak Park as presented for 5 years. Second, yes. Carney, yes. Burns, yes. Spurlock, yes. Kim, yes.
085Johnson, yes. Norris absent. Motion passed. Item 9.3, recommendation to approve separation agreement between employee and district. I move that the board of education approve the separation agreement between Sheila Johnson and Oak Park Elementary School District 97. Second car, yes. Kim, yes. Morris Abs, yes. Her Johnson, yes. Motion passed. Okay, that takes us to our discussion items. Discussion item 10.1, unified communications and voiceover IP refreshupgrade. Yep, we should have just asked you to stay up here so Michael and Will are coming back up. Provide a brief overview of this item and answer any questions the board might have before we bring it forward next time. zoom in here that did not show up through but go ahead and give a quick overview. So thanks we again I'll I'll brief this one. So as we have we
086we do a 5year so 10 years ago was the first time we went from Centrics I don't know how many people remember like we had I remember teaching in a classroom at man you you'd get a phone call and it was party lines like seven people's phones would answer or ring and you're like hello like not for me all right then we six would hang up and one would stay on the phone so we went from that 10 years ago so we went to a Cisco system voiceover IP for a 5year lease then we extended that for another five years and and that was kind of that that thought and that planning at that time to have it for 10 years and then we'd go back out and see what would happen at that piece.
087Um Cisco's changed their licensing. So while we we could extend for a year or two on the phones, the phones would then time out and you'd have to replace all the phones anyways. Uh but their licensing was also changing. Um so last five years ago, we were able to like sneak in and keep the same licensing and just renew that up over and go from there. But uh so that's why we went out to a a larger I'll let Will kind of talk through some of that process and then I'll hit on the budget thing the budget items. So so we knew because of licensing and and having it to renew um that we had to get this up and running. We started in uh November getting a plan out uh release the RFP in
088December. Um I think we extended it in January um just at the vendor's uh request just to make sure everybody had uh an opportunity just like we did with our infrastructure. We we tried to catch the widest net we can get as many vendors um really working towards solutions. Um just not saying we're just going to do Cisco again. Um and uh we uh we came up with uh how many did we hand? 12 12 respondents, 10 different solutions, seven responses. Okay. Seven responses. 10. Yeah. So, some gave different uh solutions. Um and uh and then we we boiled it down to uh three and then Michael really beat these guys up um back and forth. Literally or figuratively, man. He's going back. He's just like, "Come on. What's what's what's the best price?" I
089mean, he worked he worked really hard. Um, I have to commend him on that. But, uh, we did come down to, uh, to like a a best and final. Not quite called a best and final. And, um, and I guess, uh, we we said it was Zoom, right? Yeah. So, there's two different solutions. As we went through that, we we looked at different cloud-based solutions. There's number benefits for that. I mean, allowing our staff to be wherever they're at, they can make those phone calls. They can use their personal cell phones. They can use their iPads, their computers. It allows us to be super flexible and wherever they are, they don't have to be tied to that location. We think about like even teachers if they're going home or if they've got to make a
090conference, they want to call a family and tell them about Louisie and and all the great stuff or whatever. They don't have to then be in their classroom to do that. They can do that from other locations. Um, so there are a lot of flexibility and opportunity. It was super the last two solutions. They're both cloud solutions. They allowed us to also look at all of our communications. So, we use we still have some licenses of Zoom in place for some of our special ed and to be able to do some of those meetings that we have. Uh, but then we also um have we pay Comcast for SIP, we pay um fax, we have fax lines with other companies. So, by doing one of these cloud solutions, it allowed us to look at all
091of those line items and say, "Okay, here these are operational, although these are tied to this." And those are completely wiped out of this solution. So when we looked at a total unified communications for the district, that's where that bottom dollar and what we break break down in this is what is the total cost to the district? Well, the number may be higher in our current leasing. We're able to wipe out facts. We're able to wipe out the SI bill and those are 60,000 and 88,000 over five years. Um, again, when we think about the whole thing and I think that the numbers listed here for the the the dollar at the end over five years, uh, where'd it go? It's 33 over over the fiveyear period, it would be $33,000 more than what we're
092paid the last five years. And we'd have all the solutions like really one vendor that we're working with and operational. It gives us a ton of that extra functionality and opportunity. Uh, the village has just moved over to them. And one thing you'll see in there too, we did that with our tri district consortium. Uh we partnered with the high school and D90 on our school licensing when CO hit to get a bunch of cost savings and to be able to partner and do that. Talking with uh River Forest, they're going to still continue to do that. So with our licenses with Zoom, then we'll build them and they'll reimburse part of these licenses for that. And then I mean, who knows future they could say, "Hey, I want to do Zoom." will tech team
093and figure that out and and it just it can still operate because you're just connected. So basically this is uh this is like a new way of just another evolution in telecommunications. I mean we went from this um this old style 10 years ago to to uh doing a unified um network uh infrastructure um called voice over IP with in-house um servers and such. Now we're moving to the next um level. I think the the what really um shows that evolution is we were going through every through all the numbers and and all the devices and and we were we were stuck on conference phones and we were looking at a pile of conference phones because we've gone to owls and we've gone to um meets and we've gone to Zooms. We don't conference phone
094as much. that that just an epitome of what has changed in telecommunication. Now we're able if staff want to we we can carry now our phones with us um on all the licenses but still have that physical phone sitting in the classroom for the emergency use that it's that that we're required to have. Um, so it's a pretty exciting um, equipment and we're also getting rid of four servers, a bunch of routers and such. And I did decide I wanted to look up what Zoom does under sustainability and their data centers are at 90 94%. So their sustainability is better than our what they use 94% of renewable energy on their data centers. So which is it might be small but those servers burn every day all the time and we're offsetting that into their
095data centers. So I just want to clarify that you use the word exciting as as it relates to phones. Honestly this is the only time I could say that because wireless you said it a year ago is exciting about just like my kids man they're excited about phones too. This is for me. It's exciting. It's exciting to provide these services to our uh our users. Yes. It's infectious. I'm I'm excited. Um I will also say the Are you ready for this? Okay. Um I was just going to say I like the simplification is nice. The fact that it's only 33,000 for five. I mean, yeah, that's very nice. No, no, more. More more. Sorry. Yes, just to be clear that is more not not in total. Um is is very nicely done. Um I would
096not have wanted to be zoom in on these calls with you. Um I do have a question. Do we have um do they have a a data protection and data privacy component of this that we could get a copy of just to Yeah. I mean with the encryption it's a lot of that type of stuff. Yeah. We'll include I'll include terms of service and all that and that's L is not there right now but um that's that next phase and we'll go through all the contract review and ensure all that stuff is in place and the encryption they have to be at a certain level for all of those calls especially Zoom and everything that they're going I'm more thinking like any information they are gathering and storing on their servers and and how they're
097are they I am assuming they are not allowed to use it that sort of thing. So like basically looking for that sort of piece. Yep. Oh, and I think we have them on students before. They they should have a SOAPA. They are they do have a SOAPA agreement already. Okay, cool. Yeah, all right. So, this I know this is listed as well. This would come back on the 22nd. That's right. Yes. Um and and we've the last thing I'll say is we've worked to like there is a leasing component if we've wanted to do that. had some conversation with Rob just and it's only the first year. It'sund not only but it's 113,000 that we would finance over a period. So we're looking at what that rate would be. It doesn't really make sense. What
098I have initially it' be an additional $11,000 over the four years that would cost if we did finance versus just pay that first year out front. Um, and in conversations with with Rob, it's like it makes sense to just pay that initial and not have to do it over the long term. And and most of that's just replacing. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Item 10.2, school year 25 summer programming robotics program budget increase. Yep. So, in keeping with the technology theme for the night, um Dr. Loftton, chief learning innovation officer is coming up to talk about a uh shift in our um summer robotics budget. Sure. It's a relatively minor shift, I think. So, yeah. Um so, we uh started two new programs for summer last summer. Um summer robotics camp,
099which supports students in grades four and five as they're entering into um middle school in a year or two. um along with middle school explore. So last year we welcomed um 33 students to our summer robotics camp that took place over the first week in June, first week after students um were let out in June. And we are now at um 92 um students. So we anticipated a modest increase and we have almost tripled the number of students who are interested in joining us for the summer for that particular camp. And while we budget for an additional teacher stipen, um the st the way that the staffing has worked is that we'll have to do instead of two concurrent weeks or two concurrent sessions um consecutive sessions. So we have the teacher stipen, but we
100also use our high school mentors from the Oak Park Road Forest High School um to support each of the students. And so, um, we are looking for an extension for that week for our high school mentors to be able to work with, um, our robotics building or robot building pairs. Um, so that is a cost of $4,800. We typically pay a stipen of $600 a quarter student. So, it would be $4,800 total. Um, you'll also see, um, on the document that middle school explore, we also started that. Um and then we partner with Triton, but it is um completely funded through our um title one funding um for the Triton College Park. And um they originally quoted us $300. However, um given all of the increases on everything um that has increased slightly to $424
101per student. Um so we're asking for um the ability to use additional Title One funds um to support students in that program. Are all the kids that attend that program title one eligible eligible? Yeah. Okay. Is there any risk of those funds being pulled? Not this year. Um do we also invite kids that aren't title one funded to pay for themselves? No. Um but last year it was run through a Friday Night Place also ran um that program and that allowed for students who wanted to pay um to be able to leverage the program. Um we are getting a bit creative because we do have some students who want to attend but aren't title one eligible. So if they're able to they are able to pay Triton directly, they just can't participate in the first
102component of our program. Um, so have we thought about and I'm thinking more actually about the kids feeling isolated and set apart from from, you know, their friends who might be not title one, right? Because we try to I think we kind of typically wanted to be really inclusive and not have separate programs based on categories like economics. So, have we thought about revisiting that concept and letting people pay for it? I guess we thought of it as the opposite of providing an additional support for students who qualify for title one supports. Um, and we have a number of I think invitationon programs for students who um need a particular support during the summer. However, it doesn't preclude us from thinking about this more creatively. Um, but in order to leverage Title One funds, um,
103we have to make sure that the students that we support are Title One eligible. So we'll just have to kind of think through how we can think think about that maybe next it's the right understood what you're bringing forward and I think there are ways for example we are a targeted title one district um you can also apply to be a like a schoolwide or districtwide in which case you don't need to target that way uh and then like uh Ebony said you know otherwise there are pretty strict rules about you know supplement I don't want to I would like to only pay for the title Understood. No, but just just to say that there are uh those restrictions, but like uh Ebony said, she's in direct communication with the ISBY person also looking at
104like creative ways like she said to do that. So, we can always keep an eye out for it sounds like this year it's also a staffing issue like you even if we wanted to open it, we wouldn't have enough teachers interested. Correct. Correct. Yeah. Well, but Triton I is Triton a staffing issue or is Triton just the cost of the middle school program? Summer robotics is a staffing issue, right? Triton is just we're using additional funding. Sorry. Sorry, that's what I Yeah, it's a great increase in interest. Any sense for why we got such a huge jump in interest? I think um we were able to when we came um earlier this school year, we wanted to make sure that we got the word out earlier that we had teachers connecting with families to make
105sure that they're aware of these opportunities. So I think some of that has worked but also as we build programs I think word of mouth also gets out there. So we did project a small like a maybe double we didn't anticipate. True. That's great. One like idea I had just for the future is um if we have if we keep running into the issue of not having enough staff if we can tap into like pre-ervice teacher programs or something where they're getting trained and they would work under a lead teacher. That way we could offer more sections with people who are somewhat trained in education and then it could also be kind of a gateway for folks who are interested maybe in working in D97 because I don't know like what qualifications we're looking for
106with the design folks but um I don't know it's just something I think about if we're trying to get more folks involved in the the district world. Have you seen that done anywhere? No. Well, no. The reason I brought it up is like for our literacy program, they we have a a capstone practicum for the reading specialist program. And so we're trying to place a lot of the students will work in their own districts, but some of the students don't have summer opportunities. So we're trying to get them paired up with other districts that so it gets so it's interesting because they're all of our students are already certified teachers. So they're they have experience. They don't necessarily have experience as reading specialists. Um, and so some some of these programs where our students are
107basically volunteering, they're you're getting like two teachers for the price of one. Um, and so I think about programs like that where there might be like a field experience component or even like a miniature internship, something where they could get credit hours but then also have an opportunity to work in a because a lot of schools aren't going to have a design program, but that might be something that they're wanting to build at a school or that's an experience they could bring. And so it just made me think about how there might be a way to kind of capture a couple different audiences in more creative ways. Absolutely. We're open to any and always to make sure that we're staff appropriately. For sure. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Um that takes us to 11.1
108board remarks. Would any board member like to remark? Robotics are awesome. How about that? Robotics are awesome. July noted. I think um hearing as much as I have from folks in higher ed and some school districts about all the antip anticipatory compliance BS, I'm going to say um and caving to things that are anti- DEI. it. I know like it comfort is probably too strong of a word, but it makes me feel better that we're in a community that values these things and we're not going to anticipate what ridiculous compliance things are going to be forced down on us. Um, kicking and screaming. Um because it's really disheartening to see people like just fall over. And um even on the book award committee I'm on right now, one of them one of the folks on
109the committee works in the district where the everyone is welcome sign was pulled and she she's like she was on the cusp of retirement and she's like you know I wasn't sure about this year but after that she's like I'm done. like I just can't the kinds of things that are being pushed through in the name of whatever. She's like it's too hard. Um and so I'm grateful that you know that all of our teachers want to teach all of our kids in all the ways that benefit them the most. And I mean, even I was talking to a teacher in a different high school and uh like in a different suburb and she was talking about they had put a pride flag up in the hallway for pride and teachers complained about that flag
110and it came down and some of the students came to her and like they were like, "We don't feel safe when teachers are asking for that to be pulled." And so that like was really upsetting to me because like to to wonder if your teacher hates you, you know, it just it it really disturbed me. And so I'm grateful that, you know, we're all doing the best we can and really putting our kids first. And I'm going to shout out Katy Allejo, who I get emails from about my daughter and like what she's doing well in class. And it's it's just nice, you know, I because I know like having been a teacher, it's sometimes hard to get the energy up to make like positive phone calls. Um, so I appreciate when people do that.
111So I'm just glad that we we live in the community we live in because it's it's tough out there. Sorry not to make it all s positive. Uh any other remarks? All right. Um board assignments. FAC has not met since we last talked about FAC. Parent teacher advisory committee. Nope. We haven't met either and neither report. Okay. I go that's no report. PTO. Um there was a discussion last night of now that the board has passed the donation policy that um the PTO council was seeking more clarity on the district's policy for what's under 5K. Um and then that led to a discussion about gift giving for in particular for teacher appreciation and um a conversation around whether or not it would be helpful to have guidelines from the district um as the employer um
112on a threshold amount that teachers can accept in terms of gifts. meaning like, you know, if I'm Christmas, yeah, like end of the year gifts, like if I'm like if I'm a state employee, I can't accept a gift over I'm making it up, $500 or whatever it is. And maybe getting some guidelines from the district as the employer for like what a teacher could accept at the end of the year because what like the discussion was around like what happens if one teacher gets, you know, hundreds and hundreds of dollars in gift cards, but the teacher who's teaching next door gets 20 bucks or a Dunkin Donuts, right? Like it's right. So like how from parents? Was that from parents? PTO or from parents? From parents individually. So like the PTO I mean just as
113an extreme example, I had a classmate in grad school who taught at the lab school and should a parent hand her $1,000 check. I don't think that's going to happen at Oak Park, but like I don't see how we can I don't know if we can PTO. I mean I I wonder if we could certainly put out suggestions. I wonder whether we actually have the ability to put out parent limitations. I mean, putting aside whether we would want to or not. I don't even know if we have I can't speak for all parents, but I do think parents are trying they've had an a certain experience, right, that they've put a value on, right, in theory. So, be hard for um you to say that, you know, to tell I Yeah. Telling parent. I don't
114know. The only thing I can think of is if there's like a amount like because I think like in the situation with this woman, she I think gave her department chair principal to check. She's like, I don't feel comfortable with this. This feels weirdly like you're trying to buy a grade or something. And so I'm wondering if there's just like a ethical suggestion of please don't I mean again I don't think anyone is going to get $1,000 from a parent. Can I ask Colleen, was it just like idle discussion or was it an actual question to us? No, it was more around like how PTO's think through gift giving because really the conversation was No, but are they like asking us to do something? No, there was a conversation around like how to make it
115more equitable in terms especially non teaching staff. So like support staff and like how but were they asking for the PTO who would be giving a gift or pro are asking for PTO's to have suggested guidelines for parents but but like this was the the topic of discussion okay without resolution and so there's no clear ask coming up correct it was just so I as PTO president we actually gave every building every person in the building a gift at Christmas from the PTO regardless. So it was aside from whatever parents gave. So there are P and I don't I mean this was quite a while ago. So it was done it may still be being done and I don't think it's happening like across right. So that was the discussion is like hey what do
116you do at Lincoln? What do you do? like that discussion. Yeah. Which is one thing, but what individual parents do and give is would be an overreach in my opinion. And I think you got to be careful even about suggesting something because some parents don't want to feel pressured to give in. Yeah. No. Oh, that's totally fair, you know. Yeah. 100%. And what about us? Why don't they I'm joking. We have a talk about this. We have a $60 limit fally or statewise. Sorry. Just FYI. Thank you. But yes, had that been an a serious suggestion, I would be glad to know that. Uh, okay. Sustainability task force. I don't know if we have any updates there. We've not met since last time. Uh, collaboration for early childhood. So, as I mentioned last time, we
117are starting to move forward looking at the IGA. Um, so as we have more information on that, because it's just been kind of one of those ones that's just been rolling over. Um, and so as we are starting meeting next week on that, so as we have more information on that, I will send that around to the board. Thank you. OPF, that's true. Oak Park River Forest Community Council haven't been able to attend a meeting. All right. It's a conflict with what Oh, they meet the same time you meet. They have, but they moved it around, but I haven't been. Okay. Um, Ed, Brad. Um, I don't think we've had a meeting since my last. Okay. Uh, that takes us to item 13, agenda preview. Yes. And I think, uh, Li has some edits to
118what is actually presented here. Okay. Yes, we're just making adjustments to the section where we have action items. Um, we're going to bring forward both the approval of the tech plan recommendation and the approval of the voice over IP refresh um for next year. Um, I have one question. So, for the OTAA teacher roles, we all that usually leads to a really interesting discussion. Can we get that report significantly earlier than us on the Sunday before working? Like a full week would be ideal. Um, we actually, and I know, uh, Patrick, Luis, and Natasha are in the room, but I believe our because of the contract negotiations, everything's a little bit delayed. Um, and so I believe the meeting with the union is the day before the board meeting. So, we're bringing this forward for
119discussion and then it won't be brought forward till action until the May 13th. So, that um you know that might be the best place to ask the questions is at the board meeting simply because we will have had the is that correct? The meeting with the union the roles committee meeting will be on the 21st. So, I'm not sure how we can talk about it that like within I don't want anyone staying up till like 3 in the morning writing us writing up the whole like that's the thing like and then I'm not waking up at 3 in the morning to read the thing. Is there harm to wonder? Yeah. Could we push it back to like rather than have it the day after you guys meet with the union like have the first discussion
120at the at that May meeting and then the if I'm not mistaken right because what has to happen is once these roles get approved we have to post them and teachers need to apply before the end of the school year. And so um what we can maybe do is provide you a preliminary draft of what we have recognizing that you know it may shift when we move. Do you expect and maybe you have no way of knowing but is the expectation that what you bring to the meeting with OPTA will be very similar to what you come out of it with like you could like if you shared something saying this is pending our meeting with the OPTA are you reason that's not how the language reads in the contract what's that that's not how
121the language reads in the contract it's supposed to be a joint meeting do you know what I mean like can you move the meeting up no what I'm asking is if what if going into that meeting if you're not expecting significant changes like the prelim you could get it to us earlier sense right that's what I was saying we could get you a preliminary so my question is is like what's the likelihood that it would change significantly or are these things that you've already had some discussion with them there has been some discussion and um Patrick Luis and Natasha if you want to address this come up and address this we can do that or you can just say there's no way to know if that's the answer to my question. Yeah. So, we have
122started um conversation and so we did have a preliminary meeting and so we can look at um like making an earlier meeting to try and come up with at least some preliminary um to then get you some information ahead of time. Yeah. And also I think so the questions tend to center not as much around the roles themselves but like how do we know that we what we got out of the roles and what the value is and why did we select this role or we're a different role and what is this person really so to the extent that that stuff can be discussed the measurements of the value and that each of these roles bring we don't even have to know if we do 10 of these people this role fine but if we
123only do six it doesn't matter what does their role do right so those kinds of questions maybe centering more on that than kind of what the final you know we want we think this is 6 to 12 right now right we usually right it's the the aggregate investment is large yes I don't think we've ever gone I mean people might have a what does this title mean or but nobody's like why four of that and three of that exactly and so maybe it's more about broad strokes how we landed where we did and how we intend to sort assess whether this is the right mix, whether we're getting out of it, what we want, etc. Yeah. Going forward and that if we can get that that might be less dependent on right because it does
124right in the end if you add two more to the role. Well, if you like the role and we think it's going to add value then then you know then that's a good I think that we can definitely provide that in advance because that's been part of our conversation already in the forum area has been like this year we did the visible work products and so being able to guide our conversation this time has been what has what have we found based upon those visible work products and then how can we guide that in moving forward in determining what has worked and what hasn't worked. and what changes do we want to make based upon and maybe some information on like the look back on the physical work. Yeah, be great to hear about that.
125Almost an annotation of like here's what we're thinking and and here's what we learned. Yeah, that sounds great. So, we can definitely Thank you. Good flag, Ali. Um, all right. Anything else on the proposed agenda for the 22nd? Who's excited for water meter data collection discussion? Louise is yeah I'm I want like I don't want to throw a wrench in it but like food service is something that we've talked about in the community for a long time and I just want to know like it says discussion and action and I just want to make sure that like are we going to have a discussion about like food service if I feel like we have a discussion every year and then never had students come and express a desire to have different food options. So I
126just want to like what gauge what Yeah, it is one of the big buckets in the sustainability work. I don't think it's anywhere where it's going to change the agreement for next year, but I agree with you like maybe as part of this it would be helpful to share as much as we can about where those discussions are headed. I also think like short term we need to renew the IG with the high school. Yeah. Yeah. long term, we really want to get to a point, and I don't just mean about like let's make sure that we're reducing our food waste. I mean also like let's rethink the way that we're serving meals in our buildings because it's not just about food service at lunch. Like are there kids who need an apple when they
127come in the building because they haven't had breakfast or haven't had a meal since the day before, right? Like rethinking how we're thinking about food in our buildings. Um I also think that it's okay just on the food service if we don't have to do it all at once. like we don't have to like end the IGA like wait until it's over before we bring fruit into the lunchroom, right? Like we can do there's there we can take incremental steps on changing the food that's offered like your apple example. Um I think without like I don't think it has to be one or the other. There might be some options for um inserting healthier options and healthier items in a smaller scale. Also seeing the gauging the response. I mean, if we do it all
128all of a sudden we're only serving salads and we get rid of pizza, I'm not sure that's going to land so well anyway, right? Like so we might want to look at something that's a little bit more mixed options so that you know I encourage variety. Yeah. So I like maybe there's something we can try even in the short term and we don't have to decide that. I might be confused, but have we had conversations about halal food options? Am I the what? halal food options. Did we talk about We did at one point because and it was brought up. Well, anyway, sorry. I don't know. I have not been involved in a conversation about halal yet. there was a conversation cuz I'm like I talked about that somewhere with someone. No, we we did
129bring it up at because I'm just wondering because I've seen other parents also even just talk about like the lack of vegetarian options for students and I know we do have like a Muslim population in the district and so I just think about like accessibility of some of the food options as well. Um I don't know how much we Yeah. So, lots of things I guess to consider, but yeah, it does seem like every year people are like, "This doesn't work." And we're like, "Well, let's let's keep it for this year." And but then we're not Yeah, it seems like maybe we need a long-term strategy. This is a great tea up for the discussion that we'll have at the next board meeting. Can I add one more thing? Yeah. Continue discussion. No, it's not
130a discussion. It's a like point to add in there. um as part of the discussion um lunch programs is one of the things that has been on the chopping block federally. So, one component of that discussion should just at least address how we're still going to pay for this. Um because obviously we're not going to not feed kids. So, um isn't the lunch money rolled up into title one? It is. And title one is also Yeah. So, I mean it just separating it out when the whole thing is on. No, but it might exist and we're about to talk this, right? That's my point. If you've seen like the band word list disabilities on there if it's not real women, I mean, so why do we need to do anything for marginalized groups? Sorry, I'll
131be quiet now. Move to a journ. You could move to a journ. I'm going to move to a journ by all second. Give me a look. All right. I assume that means there's nothing else on agenda wise, but if people think of stuff, uh, you know who to share it with. Um, all right. Motion to adjurnn. I thought we were adjourning. Were we?