001Oh yes. Okay. So, let's go ahead and get this meeting started. Vana, can you go ahead and call roll? Okay. We call this meeting to order. It is March 18th, 2025. The time is 7:05 p.m. I'll take the role. Her Johnson is absent. Frost here. Burns here. Spurlock here. Moore here. Kim here. Carney is absent. Meeting is now called. All right. And with that, we will move to public comments. Um public participation is a vital important a vital part of our organization success. The board welcomes participation but generally does not respond um during public comment. Those who wish to speak are required to sign in on the comment sheet prior to the start of the meeting. When your name is called, please step up to the podium and state your name for the record. Public
002comments are limited to three minutes. If you're still still speaking at three minutes, please finish your thought and conclude. Um, I would ask that you um give your if you have a written document, hand it over to our board secretary or you can email it. Um, with that, we'll call. Okay. So, let's go ahead and get this meeting started. Ve, can you go ahead and call RO? Can we call this meeting to order? It is never fun to hear your own voice. So, thank you for stopping that. Um, we have one public comment in tonight, Rachel Maddox. I thought I had five minutes, so I'm going to talk fast. U, my name is Rachel Maddox, and I am the parent to an eighth grader, Charlotte, and OPRF junior Nolan. I'm here today to express my
003opposition to the funding of the extracurricular CAST program with G97 tax dollars. I have a unique perspective because my son went to Brooks and my daughter is currently at Julian and both my kids are theater kids. First, let me say that I'm a big supporter of D97's commitment to the arts during the school year. I can say that arts education in D97 has changed my children's lives. My son was introduced to musical theater in Mrs. Miss Utter's second grade class as part of Longfellow's curriculum. He did after school cast Junior with Miss Charelle and attended both summer cast and summer bravo. Charlotte has participated in summer bravo for the past two years and is using her last year of eligibility to participate in Mean Girls this summer at Bravo. These programs have been the best
004bargain in town with full day camp hours and multiple weeks. These programs have long-standing scholarships and free tuition to make it accessible for all the kids. D97 has a finite amount of taxpayer dollars, and we have to make choices on where we spend our money. We cannot fund an extracurricular summer theater program when our students are not meeting benchmarks in literacy. You heard from me at the end of January when my eighth grader was identified by OPRS High School as demonstrating need for literacy intervention. um on based on her middle school math scores. Keep in mind, I asked for intervention at Julian and my daughter was denied. She would need to have been performing below the 25th percentile. So, she was in the 30s. She wasn't failing enough. Charlotte did not need free summer theater
005camp. She needed to be prepared and ready to succeed in high school. She needed the board's action. When Julian literacy teacher brought this to your attention last year at the last board meeting, D97 administrators referenced other free non-academic district programs that happened in the summer as rationale for paying for CAST. However, these programs do not come close to the cast budget. The summer music theater, the summer music camp is 5day 30 kids. The middle school explorer program is three mornings in August for acclimating sixth graders to middle school. It's not a six-w weekek, $60,000 program. These are not appletoapple comparisons and should not be considered. I was also concerned that the budget presented by past leadership at the last board meeting was for labor only. $60,000 in labor for 75 students, $800 a kid. Where
006are the rest of the costs? licensing, costumeuming, set design. We have historical data. Why was the 2024 summer budget not presented with full line item transparency? It's I'm I can only assume that it's going to cost more than that. Where is the supplemental money coming from? Watching the last board meeting, I was frustrated when I heard board members questions about gross disparities and potential inequities between the programs with undertones that CAST won't have the same opportunities as Bravo or the reasons for Bravo success is because they have a 501c3 and they could fundra. To be clear, Bravo is successful because of Tina Reynolds, right? She was forward thinking enough to protect protect her program by creating a 501c3. So years ago, right, at one point Bravo and CASP was on the chopping block, right? And
007so Tina took initiative and made a 501c3. It's still operating as if it was, you know, the CAST programs with all the fundraising operating in Spain, but Oh, shoot. Am I out of time? Okay. Um, I'll be really fast. Um, so, uh, it wasn't to fund raise Morris to secure the during an uncertain time. Tina has inspired a community of parents to show up to board meetings on a Tuesday night because they see the difference that Tina is making in our students lives. Bravo is nationally recognized as the best public middle school theater program in the country. And I get frustrated that D97 doesn't say that loud and proud. Instead, we seem to make the accomplishments of a female leader smaller versus using Bravo as a gold standard. We spotlight exceptional teachers all the time
008and Tina is deserving of that recognition. So to recap, one, deny funding to the summer cast, a non-academic summer program and continue with the the the very successful tuition based program. Run brows on cast through the district with the same benefits. Nothing is broken. Three, prioritize investment in literacy programs and high school readiness activities. Raise literacy intervention to match OPF high school. investigate the other free non-academic programs that D97 is paying for to understand those budgets. Charging these camps at cost will be a benefit to students and parents. Like it doesn't have to be I appreciate you so much. You can put your full comments over to Lany and she'll make sure they all get in. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right, that moving on along. Thank you so much for coming in.
009Um, we'll move to our superintendent overview. Yeah, we've got a a short deck here. I'm going to actually grab my phone and I'm going to do this and try to do this in five minutes or less. See if I can. Yes, thank you. Um, so all right, let's see if I can do that. So, um, good evening everyone. Um wanted to start with just a reminder that we're uh welcoming uh photos of the week. Um women's history month is going on. These are photos that you have seen in our weekly wrapup. And so um I won't go uh through them, but what you see is a variety of celebrations, a variety of ways that we're um you know u bringing forward our students identity, staff identity, coming together around art and uh who we are.
010And in that upper corner you see our teachers being entrepreneurial and uh Jenny Rehea has um been awarded a grant. Um so lots of joy and happiness across the district. Please continue to send those pictures so that we can feature them. Um we also featured in our weekly wrap-up the teachers uh who excel those who excel uh program and uh the recognition for our district. So, um, want to shout out to each of them and, uh, recognize how important their contributions are to our district. Um, this is a photo that was also in the weekly wrap-up. So, Sheree and I were at, uh, Hepsuba home. Um, they had a gala and so we kind of got decked out and uh, picked up a a great award. I don't know if you want to share anything,
011Sheree, about that. No, it was a great event and um, Habsa is a organization that is so dear to my heart. I wouldn't have been able to be a working parent without Hapsa. So, um you know, and everyone came up and just said how great it is working with the district and so it was really lovely. Yeah. Thanks. It was nice to be there and um excited about all the great things we'll do together in the future as well. Um, and Jung, I hope you don't mind, but we're pretty darn proud of uh our board uh member, Jung Kim, is one of the judges of the National Book Awards, and that is amazing. Um, and Jung, I believe you're uh the young adult literature. Is that right? Youth literature. Youth literature. I don't know if
012you want to share a little bit about what this is because it's a we're it's a pretty big deal. We're excited about it. Yeah. Uh, and the panel I think is five people. So, it's usually like an academic, a writer, a publisher, a librarian, and then like a I don't know like there's an actor that's part of the panel too. Um, we're they've opened submissions for books and each year the committee determines what the um criteria are, which is kind of very unusual. It's not a set standard for what the National Book Award is. So, as a group, we'll actually decide what is equality, what we're looking for, and it covers everything from picture books to young adults. Um, they announced the finalists in October and November. And from what I understand, we're going to
013read roughly 300 books between here and then, which I'm a little You can get Ari to have overwhelmed by So, I don't know if I'll see any sunlight this summer. Um, but I'm super excited for it. It's a pretty prestigious thing. And um I'm already anxious about the gayla part that we're going to have to do at the end of what I'm going to wear. Sheree sh I would look to share uh for she was decked out for the other gayla we were at. So um I think that um you know I think this such an important thing for us to also recognize thinking about um youth literature. What are we exposing our students to? How are we making sure we're expanding that? And also, John, I know you're always recommending what's the latest that
014we should be thinking about. So, I'm looking forward to, you know, to that being part of our conversations. Um, so congratulations on that. Um, we're partnering with the Park District of Oak Park. This is something we're really excited about. So, if you looked at your uh Park District um guide for uh spring and summer, you would have noticed the portrait of an Oak Park 8th grade graduate and the icons of that graduate of that of the different dimensions being um kind of a sorting mechanism for the different opportunities that are out there. So this is our first step in the direction that we're headed, which is this idea we learn everywhere and all families, all um students, you know, have opportunities and rich environments that they're growing up in. And so this the portrait of
015an Oak Park graduate becomes a way for us to um you know, to celebrate and look for those opportunities. Uh so keep an eye out for that. And then um I wanted to just say here we will put this slide in the um board highlights um but it shows the K to8 curriculum timeline. You can see that we've got the ELA pilot K to 5, the math resource review and the 6 to8 social science pilot and all of those will be coming forward at different points before we conclude the school year. So we'll put that up so that um people can take a closer look at that. um but wanted to just give a quick update. And with that, we'll get to tonight's agenda because you've got some important um important work to do. So,
016I'm excited to be here with you. Oh, and look at that. Nice. That was fun. All right. Um right on the dot there, we are moving on to district transformation goal area updates. So, we're going to start with the master um middle school, I believe. Yeah. So, come on up. We've got our middle school team here to give us a quick update. Thank you. Oh, yes. [Applause] Welcome. Welcome. Thank you. All right. So, good evening uh board members and community. Uh thank you for the opportunity to share with us. I will share with you like some of the work that's happening on middle school redesign. Uh my name is Luis Delean. I'm a sixth grade parent of middle schools. Uh my name is Samantha Tracy. I'm a sixth grade special education teacher at Julian and
017was a part of the redesign committee. My name is Mallerie Mallerie. Um I'm an eighth grade English language arts teacher at Brooks and also the ELA department chair and also a member of the middle school redesign committee. Nick Philowski, principal virtually. All right. So a lot of this work is is framed is rooted in in our goals in in the area of the design for all and in this case for the middle school redesign component. Um we're very proud of of all the work that has happened with with our team. We have a a a great representation through through through this work. Uh we had opportunity to collaborate pretty close with them. Just recently I was at Brooks like sharing with Epsomod uh giving updates and really been working hand in hand with our staff
018problem solving things at the same time as well with that console and this kind of signals like a new shift in the culture about how we come together to really figure out things together and really move forward together. So uh the middle school schedule redesign uh is one of the tonight's updates and the goes back about into the area about transformation in our middle school learning experiences. So a lot of the work is framed as we have seen before in the in best practices as defined by uh the association of middle school level association our district 97 policy and mand uh mandates from the state as well and then with that also really uh hone in and be intentional about designing those experiences that they are responsive challenging empowering and equitable and engaging for students.
019So the timeline in this process has been an ongoing process. Uh we were able to check another another check mark this time which very excited about it as we are able to share with you the master schedule in this session and then also we're looking forward ahead of us preparing implementing the this new master schedule in the coming months. As you know is it's h scheduling is a complex process because we have limited resources and limiting resources that also competing with each other but also other pieces that we need to take in consideration as we try to puzzle all of this together. As you know, we have the limitations in space and they also have mandatories that actually dictates how things are are coming together. And that's important components for us to really as we're
020designing to have in consideration as we're trying to make everything fit for our students. So with that as well like h has been like a great journey about being able to bring everybody's voices into this work. We as a team we don't even feel like this is our our work. It's actually the community's work as we have everybody everybody's voice represented through this work and we're talking about the students, the families, our staff coming together and really identifying these priorities that drove a lot of the work that we did in in this in this redesign process. And here it is. So here's the schedule. the schedule that this is a sample two that we were able to bring forward. We had the opportunity as we shared with you in the last four meeting where we
021came together and and really taking this feedback and aligning some of those priorities and complexities in developing three valuable samples preferred samples with that. we had to take these samples into into the system and see if our school was able to take these ideas and actually if it was a viable schedule for us to implement and we're happy to report that that actually the the this this um design is actually able to be run by the power school system and then with that uh we are looking forward to to the to the implementation of this. We are going to be going through this process explaining how does these components align to our priorities as we uh uh continue the this uh this presentation with you. So with that uh number two our first one is
022about yeah so I'll be talking about um the adjustments made to the length and structure of class periods uh with an emphasis on daily schedule uh for core classes core subjects. So when we talk about core subjects, we're looking at ELA, English language arts, mathematics, science, social science, and then the other components that we prioritized in this daily um hybrid kind of schedule in some some aspects is the electives, physical education, and then uh lunch and what I need when um a nod to what they used in the elementary schools. um formerly known within our schools as sore um or advisory. So uh in our current schedule, we actually run 75 minutes per class period AB schedule. So we meet with our students every other day. Um and this new schedule will actually meet with
023our students uh 50 minutes daily. So every day students will meet with their core ELA, math, science, social studies, um, science teacher and then also one elective that's year-long and then that AB component which makes it a little bit of that hybrid is is the physical education. They'll meet every other day and then also they'll have another elective option that'll be either trimester long or year-long but will be on that rotating schedule of AB. So this is really exciting and what it means for us in our instructional time, our connection time with students and the frequency with which we get to meet with them um and engage in instruction. So this new schedule will result in significantly more instructional time in ELA, math, science, and social studies for all D97 students currently. So on the
024left hand side of that our graph for daily instruction, we meet with students every other day for 75 minutes, which essentially equates to 37.5 minutes daily if you were to break it across five days. But by meeting for 50 minutes, that's going to increase our weekly instruction from 188 minutes to 250. And that increase is going to mean 1.04 hours more per week and then ultimately 36.7 more for the year. And then over the course of their sixth through eighth grade experience in our middle schools, 110 more hours in each of those core subjects. Um, and also as part of this, as I mentioned the electives, I'm also going to talk about expanding elective opportunities uh to better meet diverse student needs. Um, so currently student choice is kind of limited. students are required uh
025through our IB programming to take a foreign language. Um but with this they'll have um more and then they also get the choice of performing art visual but with this um there'll be more opportunities our new master schedule for student choice and exploration. So again selecting that um elective that they'll meet with daily year long and then also selecting um an elective that would meet every other day. So is I'm sorry. Is is world language become more optional because it's it is required for college world foreign language but we're going to make it optional. Yes, I they would still have it at the high school. Do they have level one like basic foreign language at all? So Holly because I I have that question as well but we can save that to the end. Sorry.
026Um so here's an example of what those options would look like um to kind of address that question. So, uh, students would have the year-long daily that would be like band, orchestra, world language, Spanish or French, art, speech, drama, and debate. So, those are some of our existing electives because the the consensus was that we wanted to keep the electives that we already have. Um, and then that AB rotation, they'd have the option of a trimester long, uh, three per year between art, design, world, culture, speech, drama, and debate. and then uh option two a yearong where they could go to choir, world language or general music. And then we're looking ahead to the 26 and beyond school year um to invest in more uh and engage in our with our teams on developing more
027of those elective opportunities. Uh looking ahead, so I get to talk a little bit about the lunch and the social time, which is some of my favorite parts of middle school. Um, so, uh, we are our current lunch model, um, kiddos at Julian go to advisory, um, or they go to lunch first and they switch. Um, and right now some of our outside time is spent out in the like front of the school and not on the turf field. And so one really exciting change that we're bringing is that now students every single day will be able to go out to the turf field which means that we'll be able to better supervise students and when inevitably a ball gets thrown a little too far um the kiddos will have it in a contained space
028as opposed to going out into the street. So we're really excited about that. Um and we're also changing the language that we use when we're talking about the class that's paired with lunch. So now um to be in a more alignment with the elementary schools which we'll talk about in a minute um we are going to be calling that sore time when what I need. Um and so that'll be an option for kiddos to um get what they need which is awesome. Um and then talking a little bit about that continuity between middle schools. So, um, you know, right now, um, Brooks and Julian have similar schedules, but they're just different enough to where the language might be different between the schools and the bells are different between the schools. Um, and we want to
029make sure that a district 97 student has a universal experience that, you know, it doesn't matter what middle school you go to, you're getting a really similar experience. Um, so we're creating it so that the bell schedules are all the same. um wind time is now universal language used as opposed to kind of our different language that we're using between the middle schools. Um and this will actually allow for um teachers to have more collaboration time across both middle schools which I'm personally very excited about. Um and so that'll just bring better outcomes for all of our students and then also the same core and elective classes will be offered. And I think it's important I love that you're excited about it. I think that because what we know is that's actually the one thing
030that matters more than anything is our teachers having that time with each other and all of us as professionals. So I just want to just take a moment to say like what it means that that you what you're expressing that this is you know our schedule that we developed together and that we're excited that we're going to have more time with our peers. That is the one thing that matters most and so I'm really excited about that. I can see over your Yeah. I can see from your smile like you know and that that's what it's about. So, thank you for bringing that here. Absolutely. Yeah. Um and then something that I love talking about is the transition between fifth and sixth grade. So, we've already done a lot of really great work with like
031middle school connections. Um being able to help our students transition easier from fifth to sixth grade. So, now with having wind time um that is language that they use at the elementary school, so they'll be used to it. Um, and then our schedule is really reflective of um, you know, what the OPRF schedule will be if they choose to go to OPRF. Um, you know, the classes are just like one minute shorter. Um, but generally they look really similar. Um, and that's something that advisory section. So you can see it's broken up into Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then Tuesday, Thursday. Um, OPRF has an advisory section, and that's something that we're going to talk a little bit more about. So, continuing on on uh these uh priorities that came out of the community, um there
032are still things that we are looking to explore. Um and we'll next year implement the structure and then continue to fit um flesh out what what the actual programming looks like and how we're supporting that time. Um utilizing some of the things we already have in place this year. Um but so right now we both have sore but I think you've heard um that that's structured a little bit differently is how often it meets at the two middle schools where this will be bring some consistency um as well as making sure that that what I need time now is about enrichment as well as intervention. Um so structuring those times and making um those services accessible um to stu all students um and and the same at both campuses. Um what we will still need
033to do is you know are there other things um enrichment courses that we want to offer during that time that we haven't been developed yet or things that we want to explore right and that's part of re-engaging our redesign committee next year and in years future um but right now accessing some of the things that we have implementing those with fidelity and giving the same amount of access to all students in our district. So kind of building the bones right now and making sure we can get that shift and then you're saying inside the structures we're going to kind of in future years start looking at how do we need to change there and I think that's important. So it's a you know not going to do everything all change in one bite but I
034think it's important what you just said there's been there's been a lot of change already. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's one of the things that has been a strength of the committee's work is also thinking about like what are the things that we can do now and we can make sure actionable and implemented well and what are the things that we need to take our time with right um so that you see that's why you see things that are future work that we said you know like I remember when I was sitting here early on in the process and it was asked like this could mean everything right and and this is the moment where we're saying we didn't try to do everything right um Pandora's box was not opened and there were points
035where we were like yes but maybe later right um and so this is another place too um where advisory you know there was this talk about like a soft start to the day and we'll have to continue to explore within the structure we were able to come up with exactly what that looks like um we'll continue to provide advisory um you saw on the wind slide that we'll try to utilize that time once a week um but then as we continue forward with our redesign committee thinking about the structure we've implemented Ed and how can we better infuse that advisory time um within our day like making that alignment with the high school. You see how they have a advisory block in Tuesday and Thursdays. It's something for us to explore as well. And it
036sounds like you know there can we can also be really deliberate about how to involve the students in those things and this was like a massive this was a massive restructure and so now as we have those more finite questions too what's their vision of this kind of time? Yeah. Absolutely. Um so next steps we have um what we do every year where get um our students feedback on what courses they're interested in, right? Um make sure that they have a choice uh some say in what um they might want to sign up for, especially with those increased opportunities for electives and enrichment. Um, and then preparing our schedules, um, which we'll be hard at work at, um, making sure that they are, uh, balanced, um, and and ready for the fall to implement the
037new schedule. Um, also awesome. Um, so a brief timeline and overview of what that looks like. Um, April and I have also level set in this area about what kind of opportunities the students have at our two campuses um for the transition. Um, so really excited about all the different things that we're offering to our fifth grade parents. Um, we're both visiting PTO's as well as having students go over and do some panels at our elementary schools giving opportunities for students to come in this spring as well as middle school connections. um coffee with Caputo and Frappuccinos with Philip Howski. Um I had to have something cute since she did. Um so um and then um also our welcome back event weeks that we have um at both campuses in the fall. Um so lots
038of support and opportunities for our students to make those transitions with that like we we understand that this is like ongoing work. You know I'm very committed to continue this work with the feedback from the community from all stakeholders and from students from our families or staff. Uh this is not the end. This is also one more step into the process of continue improving our learning experiences for students and bringing that consistency between both new schools. So with that that's something that that you will see us like every year reporting back some of our learning uh and some of the adjustments. So one of the pieces that that that before this change you know normally you roll over the structure that you have and you make little adjustments. So now by doing this left we
039are doing a new build and that's some of the work that we have engaged with with uh internal tech team uh is team did fantastic job collaborating pretty close with them and also with our school uh uh consultants into making sure that that that our system is viable and also that we're able to build something a good foundation for us to further years roll and adjust roll and adjust. So with that constant never ending improvement is something that we're committed to do as as we are continue engaging together in a in a in a great work in a in this new culture of working together being inclusive and really student centered. And with that I just want to say thank you for your time and any questions. All right so we're going to go around
040the room just to even things out a little bit here. Um so Colleen any comments questions? We're doing one one at a time as we go around one thing. Um um I am so grateful to all of you and to the long list of people that helped. Um I was really excited when I got a sneak peek at this presentation about the work that and frankly like the impact that this is going to have on our middle schools. Um and I just really quickly will say I'm really excited that we are addressing the MadMax corner um and making sure that our kids are safe. So thank you for that. Appreciate it. Thank you. Um I am curious I'm trying to envision like all the tracks and all the kids and I'm curious how you think
041this will impact staffing in terms of number of courses. Uh particularly I'm imagining there'll probably be a big drop in languages if kids can pick like band instead of Spanish. I mean as a parent I will shove my children into language but um you know I I think about like if you know left to their own devices like how this might impact all so I think one of the things we wanted to make sure too um is accessing all the different things that our kids want to access right so what may have been missed as you look through quickly and on first glance is your world language teachers actually have three different options that they may be accessed so there's the year-long song, right? What what it stands as now, let's say I do that,
042but maybe I'm a band kid, but I also want to take a language. Well, then that was something that is a year-long AB option as well to have kind of like a truncated version of French or Spanish that is part of that second elective option. And then there's actually a third option which was that world cultures class which is something that our world language teachers taught previously in years past. um that might be a trimester option that might be a little less experience with vocabulary. You may not get but at least explore cultures of French-speaking or Spanish speaking areas and get a dip into some of that experience. So to answer that too, it may just be shifting differently, not getting rid of in your schedule. Um, but like how do I choose to engage
043in that? Um, or prefer to engage in that based on my other interests. Um, thank you. I agree. I'm happy that we are switching the schedule and very exciting. Um, I just wanted some clarification. So, one of the numbers that I didn't put up there is we all know the kids have a really short lunch. So, what is the the are they getting more lunch minutes like to actually eat? Fortunately, you know, like we have limited resources about time, you know, that everybody else here like even like our our daily our time is actually less than in high school. So, that's something that that we needed to adjust to it and making sure that we're able to find a way to make it work. Unfortunately, we're not able to increase the time, but also we
044are looking into structure that time. So that's one of the adjustments that we did to make sure that by having these uh this structure we are able to uh secure the space and now within the space are we able to have areas for students to have multiple things happen during that social time where they will feel more inclusive and they will have an opportunities to maximize the time in a way. So I I that's that's a can I just ask a clarifying question? Yeah. Um, so it looks like there's 72 minutes that are designated to lunch, social time, and win. And one of the slides said that social time is now for everyone like everyone gets social time. That was on the good column, right? So, so I guess so we're not going to increase
045lunch. Are we increasing social? Are we I I don't understand lunch. What's happening in those 72 minutes? And I think that's one of the things that we still have to delineate exactly because as we're looking at the programming um like how long does win actually need to be to be viable as we're looking at like now African-American studies for example is going to be offered at both campuses to all students and looking more similar. So how do how much time do we actually need for that and then how does that break up? Um, we've also, as we've still been building, um, been trying to see about like what other options do we have to fully structure lunch that maybe is it not just half of the grade that goes to lunch at the same time,
046but are there ways to have different numbers of groupings within that that might make it feel like even though I don't have longer, I have easier access to my food to start eating faster or you know, like so some of those things when we talk about the structure that we're trying to answer that because we can't create time, right? we can try to structure it differently. And so I think that's where like we haven't broken all of that out because that's a detail I think that we're still trying to figure out like what might work best. Um and then is when in lie of social time or in addition to social it's a that's a clarify trying to figure out what the 72 minutes mean. Yeah. And it's just like right now when you look
047at both of our bell schedules and we have like this is how much is lunch and recess and what switches we'll have that um but that's some that's a level of detail that we're still I think defining and we'll have obviously for the fall but we know that everyone's going to go to a win and we know that it's going to happen right next to lunch for sure in those 72 minutes um and as we figure out what structures will work based on spaces Right. So, that's that's where we're still playing around with. Can we have three different groups at lunch or not? Um, and all of that has to do with spaces that we'll still align and we'll make sure to communicate that once we have it. Yeah. We're going to have a second
048round of questions. I have half a question. I like I have I have a a followup to that. Um, one um design. So, you either hate it or love it. I have two, well, one that hates it. One loves a teacher, so she's going to do whatever. The other now wants to be an engineer, so I have to figure out about all types of engineers. So, what happens to design? I didn't see it. Oh, design was part of one of the electives. Oh, one of the required it wouldn't be required, but it would be part of those choices for students who are passionate about it or interested in learning more. Okay. I'll let you do a red do since that was on his slide. If you have a second question. Yeah. So, and and I
049guess not more of a question, but maybe something to consider because I went to Brooks back in the 1900s. Um, and so one thing that I do, you know, I actually love when it was 78. I think if we could do that, that would be great. But since we can't, um, I think like mixing of grades, like I like the idea of having the lunch with mixing of grades. Like I know from my sixth graders, they thought they were going to see their big brother. That probably would have put them at ease a little bit more. Um I found a I met a family the other day and they have like generations of cousins at at um Julian, but they don't get to see each other. Um, and so I think like if there's any
050way to mix them and then that way the older kids are being seen as leaders, they can kind of help out the and I don't say sixth graders or little kids, but you know, and then I think just giving them the opportunity to see people and get to know them cuz they're going to see them again at the high school. Um, and they may have seen them in the the elementary schools. So, I don't know why we made that switch cuz like my kids never see their brother and now he's going to the high school and they're sad. Um, and then the other thing was like maybe I was a bad kid, I don't remember, but when I was at Brooks, I do remember like eating um on the playground and I remember like we
051could we I don't remember if it's open lunch, but I definitely remember we used to go to that Walgreens on Madison where now the Dollar Tree is. Um, and so I think if we can't increase the number of a time for lunch, like letting them have a snack when they're outside, like some people just take a long time to eat. And I rather I love my food and I would much rather sit down and eat my food than go talk to people. So, I think like just having that as an option to say like and we may talk about this in the red the facilities thing, but like having a table and then telling them like we're going to try this out. If you guys are leaving bags all over the place, we won't have
052this. But I know for me, like I loved going to Walgreens and getting my snacks and people would be like, "Come play rope." And I'm like, "I'm eating. I eat." All right. So um I have also kind of a comment from Eugene. First of all again as everyone said this is lovely. Um and I one of the things I particularly love about it is the collaborative nature that you work with parents and students and teachers and admin everybody working together and I think that's so critical with something like this. Along those lines, have you been working with OPRF on in particular the language and the arts issue? Because those are feeder classes into those schools. And I think it's really important to make sure that our students are aware if they are making a choice
053now, what impact that will have in high school, if any. It may not, but that's something I think to be cognizant of. Thank you. Yes. and and yeah, we actually strengthening our relationship with OPRF. Uh we have um already opportunities to that we have set up with them not only with district 200 but also district 90 as well. So we are like a big large community and it's important that we sync up as well. I know the uh the OPRF counselors also we have pending to connect with our middle schools uh also for that alignment of offerings and messaging and communication about that that will make a difference. So that's in the in the in the in the two coming up soon and definitely we are we're working on that appreciate it for the feedback
054as well. Uh, anything second round? Um, can I ask a clarify these new rules? Um, can I ask a clarify? So, the I thought my impression was that there would be mixing of grades now because of the electives, right? So, you could have a sixth grader and an eighth grader in not French maybe, but in name uh art. Um, so I think that we have a variety of feedback on the mixing of grade levels. Um I know that was actually for at least my parent um uh fe what do we call those? Um thank you focus group. Couldn't find it. Um that one actually started with like yeah it would be great and then like quickly turned into like don't ever do that. Um so that's how our conversation went at least. Um, but I
055think so what may happen is you may have like PE classes like where there as we have different sections of PE that there are different grade levels which currently doesn't necessarily always happen in our PE um spaces. Um, but other than that I don't know that we would have because of the way that it structures like in the to create the adult schedules as well. I see. in order for our eighth grade teachers to have collaboration time of our eighth graders are in their elective or right. So it wouldn't necessarily create those um mixed levels and still if we were sections um we would keep those sections like a sixth grade because then that becomes really challenging for your teacher one right yeah okay oh no I was going to say I meant specifically like
056lunch and uh social the social time because what kills me is my daughter saying I'm afraid of eighth graders and I'm like I hear that a lot too um Okay. Can I ask my real question? Let's let everybody go. I'm okay if she asks it. Okay. So, I was thinking I was also thinking about lunch and I was thinking about um the I know that the phones are not allowed anymore, but I was wondering if Chromebooks are cuz I hear a lot of feedback that like the kids are sitting at the lunch table with their Chromebooks and no one is talking to each other and so we don't have a lot of time to eat and also like we're not social actually socializing, right? So, it's all it's not just about the time, it's about
057the quality of that time. Yeah. Okay. I think that's something that we are still working on. Okay. Thank you. Taken into consideration. So, you're done. Holly. Um, so I have a question. So, I love kids choice. Anyone that knows me knows my kids make lots of choices. But I also kind of liked that they were forced to do some things, right? Because for the to your point, they don't always know if they want to be engineers. And now they get exposed to design. Might be the only time they I mean, I never got exposed to design, right? and um some of the language. I also know that policy 660 um is come that we're going to vote on is about curriculum and we're required to do career development for sixth through 8th graders. And I'm
058wondering and suggesting dreaming that maybe we do some career development conversations along with this selection so that maybe kids can, you know, answer some questions about what they're interested in. Oh, look at that. I should take design. I heard blank class is the easiest one and that's where all my friends are, but maybe I should try something different for a trimester. So I I I would I you know I would I think the parents I have once problem I and some other parents I know that have um kids that might make choices because of one reason should be could be encouraged to make some other choices for other reasons. agree that that will open as well for us to even reflect about what other electives we should be offering that we might not have been
059aware of that. So, uh definitely we're really looking forward for for that career exploration um um components and for us to to work through that. So, yeah. Can I ask a follow-up question too? on the world language when we do one trimester does that mean they get one trimester worth of work and then the next if they want to do it again like I guess I'm and I'm not does it matter like how does yeah so that you don't because the mixing grades and I don't you don't have to answer now that's like a really micro question that actually probably a just because we are starting really short on time can you respond on that one shared you have any other question no I to give Louise a shout out cuz I know there's been
060a lot and a lot of changes at the middle school and I just see you being like super like confident and just you're owning it and I just want to say thank you so much cuz I know it was not easy. I always see you as like Mr. GQ. So you're just you're doing it all. So I just really appreciate you and all the work you've been doing here. It's all the team. So appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Any last round questions? All right, moving on along then. Thank you all very very much. Appreciate it. Um, let's move on to master facilities. Trying to keep it moving once we get out of here early so everybody can go home, but not, you know, still allowed for conversation. We need some little um the little
061things like in the in the airport the little ramps the moving walkway. Yes, the moving walkway will be the death of my children. They're like get up now. John, welcome. Good to see you. Excited to give this update on the master facility plan. Great. Good evening everyone. Thank you for your time. Good evening. Um tonight, uh we would like to share with you a an update on the timeline. Um so if you go to the next slide um the progress update for where we are right now uh guiding principles of um our framework for decision-m and required maintenance. Um so timeline review um we've kind of taken a step back and and looked at how we've been involving all the stakeholders and how we're making our decisions and thought we should probably add a little
062bit of time into our schedule for this. So um currently we are still in the assess and discover phase and um we're hoping to wrap that up probably in early April. At this point we may be sliding a little bit more but um we are working through these various phases and um hope to next jump into this conceptualization phase where we start to look at how we can solve some of the challenges that we've started to identify and we are tracking um the stakeholder engagement as we've been moving along. So um since our last update, we have been meeting with the FAT committee, we had another present to them this update and talked through some of the things that are coming up with them on March 4th. Um we've attended the cross agency sustainability exchange
063meetings just to see how we can align some of our work with their initiatives. Um we have been reviewing and working with uh various principles. The middle school uh case study will be happening this week. We've been working with the elementary as a case study with Irving um over the past couple of meetings that we've had. Uh PTO had participated in our initial space use um survey walks and um we're here again presenting to you guys and future input gathering sessions. Uh we're planning to start scheduling those to get a a deeper dive in some of the challenges of the facilities moving forward. So I have with me tonight Megan Simmons who is um instrumental in all these processes. She's going to provide you with a progress update. Um, so as Jennifer mentioned, we're working
064through that assess and discover phase and really understanding the existing spaces. So we've prepared space use plans, which I'll share an example from in a moment. Um, really evaluating each school, different opportunities and challenges and making sure we have that all in one place. Um, and we're confirming embedding that with the principles at each school. Uh we've reviewed capacity analysis with against enrollment numbers and kind of projecting it with the future with the district 97 admin team and again we're confirming that and lining up that existing information and future projections against the plans that were getting reviewed and as Jennifer mentioned we started with Irving school using that as a case study to evaluate what kind of spaces are required across the district for elementary schools and then doing a similar exercise with middle school
065on Thursday. Um, and then we'll follow up with all the principles for making sure we're meeting those criteria across all those. Um, so here's a photo from our workshop week or two ago with Irving. So kind of vetting these criteria. Um, and here's kind of an example of the output that we're getting so far. So having that wider plan, flagging those opportunities and challenges and kind of zooming in a little bit, we're looking at this kind of required program evaluation, those criteria to say what is it that we want right now and then also looking forward kind of future forecasting. What kinds of things we want to be looking at having in the future. Can you just explain what those checks and x's and post? Yes. Um, so this is I think there's still some
066things we're evaluating, but looking at checks mean they exist. they have them. Um, X's are they do not exist in that space and then there's orange dots that the space does exist um but might not be currently used for purpose at the moment. So, we're kind of using that method across all of them but also in some spaces it might not be quite big enough or things like that. So, that's also being flagged in those comments on the plan. So, I'll So, here is the space where it might be yes, there's an auditorium but then there's not capacity for band or music or things like that. So, we're trying to bring together lots of information in one place so it's really clear what what does exist or what's might need to exist moving forward. Does
067that answer your question? Okay, awesome. I wasn't sure if they were saying that we wanted those. That was the green versus didn't want versus had versus didn't have. Okay. Because it said the program required, so I just didn't know. So ideally everything on the list is is part of the what we would like to have at the facilities in some capacity. And then looking at the capacity analysis, this is more the spreadsheet part in tandem, but this is looking at enrollment numbers from the past few years. Using those numbers, we kind of aligned this process with the district 97 team to project forward and are looking at kind of the base criteria of space requirements in comparison to enrollment numbers. So, we kind of picked that target of, you know, 65 to 80% was put
068us in this green zone and some schools might be a little low and some schools might be a little high, but flagging that with numbers and space requirements for classrooms at each grade level. and I'll hand over to Jennifer to talk through facilities. Yep. So, um we have had our consultants out to all of the buildings. They've performed and provided us with a draft report of the roof conditions, the hardscape conditions, the walls, the um uh the mechanical and plumbing and fire protection. Um this is our next big push. uh when as we go forward with the master plan, we will be starting to uh work with the district and administrators on how how we need to report that and how we need to track it in order to make decisions and prioritization later on.
069So that's our our next big push once we are kind of wrapping up this space utilization and capacity analysis. Um and additionally, we we need to get our team we've been busy with other meetings, but we need to get our team out and do some architectural assessment of the facilities as well. Um these are some examples of those draft reports, but this is the um roofing repair report with some photos of issues. We'll touch on that later. This directly impacts some of the required maintenance that's recommended. Um the hardscape draft survey. So they've blocked every site. They've identified issues with asphalt or concrete sidewalks etc. Um the same with walls and masonry issues and with mechanical plumbing, electrical fire protection. uh the safety and security analysis. I I actually just spoke with um the representative
070of West 40 who has submitted for a grant on her behalf as well as Proviso and uh I think Forest Park to have a security assessment done. Um unfortunately, we're still in limbo. Um the money is tied with federal money. So, as you can imagine, they're not sure when or if that will be awarded. So, I I think working with John, we're going to put together kind of a drop dead date. We can still have them perform a security analysis. it just may cost some money to be determined. Um some guiding principles. So the the district has put together um these guiding principles that can act as our framework for making decisions as we move forward and and identify the options on how to deal with some of the challenges that have been identified. Um
071and those include uh climate ready to open buildings. So really um making sure that we're making decisions through the lens of um systems and uh building envelopes so that we can open the buildings in extreme heat and extreme cold is making sure that that's a given and not something that we need to spend time and worry about. Um enhanced safety again you know making sure that we have um uh very safe and secure buildings when it comes to visitors coming in and how to how to handle lockdowns and those sort of things. So, we've been working towards that uh with the cross agency sustainability exchange. Um, you know, really making sure that we're prioritizing opportunities um in order to help support the community sustainability vision and how that also ties into how District 97 is
072teaching their students and and their staff how to also make those life decisions moving forward. um the arts arts and culture investments, you know, identify and prioritize, you know, ways that we can really support that interest within the district, whether it be murals or um improving performance arts and using spaces. So, using that lens to look at things and then this data for future district planning. So, a lot of the work that we're doing right now with the space utilization and the vision card is really setting a a snapshot of where we are right now with the district and comparing that to your vision so that um as we move forward, the district has the opportunity to take a look at um program placement and how things are equally um distributed throughout the district as
073well as programs that um are are would like to be implemented here but have don't have that opportunity just yet. So really right now we're kind of laying that groundwork so that those future decisions have a basis in the future. Um so along with all of this obviously um the master plan is still taking a while to do but in the meantime there are some items that do require maintenance um and that would include um roof replacement at the middle schools. The middle schools are now 25 years old I think 24 25 years old and they still have most of them still have their original roofs. So, um, the idea is that we do need to replace those roofs. We can prepare those roof areas to be solar panel ready. Um, this is an example
074that came right out of the roofing survey report for Brooks. Um, generally throughout of all of our graphics, red is bad and green is good. So, uh, there's a lot of red on this um, this roof area. So, 12 out of 14 root areas really are ripe for replacement within the next year to five years. John would say is like six months I think. Um and then you know the cost for that for the for at least the we've identified modified fmen roofing as the system to to use as an estimate. So about 2.1 for just to get the context on that it's that if I'm is it correct that the roofs have an expected life of 20 years. Yes that is correct and we are on Yep. and we're in 25. And so when
075earlier you see these pictures of holes and we've really just been patching and there's just no way to kick this can too much further. And I think that's important for the board to know. There has been a lot of good maintenance to keep these rooms um in in the condition that they're in over time. But um we're we're asking a lot more of them now than they can provide. So that's why we are where we are. Uh and and similarly with Julian um there have been a few other areas that have been replaced recent more recently. So nine out of 14 roof areas are kind of in dire need at 1.2 million as a rough estimate right now. Um additionally there is an air handling unit at man that serves the cafeteria as well as
076what's known as the fifth grade pod area. Um that is definitely beyond its useful life as well. I think it's 40 46 years old. 46 years old. It's like double its life expectancy. Um so uh in um in tandem with the cross agency sustainability exchange, we are researching and and investing how investigating how we can replace that air handling unit, whether we go back with a gas unit in kind or whether we replace it with an electric unit and and make the building um ready for future electric changes. So it would be providing a new service. So there's obviously a cost cost to benefit analysis that has to happen there but um those conversations uh were started with that and we'll be continuing that um as we move forward. And then um there is an
077interesting LED retrofit lighting opportunity that John has discovered for the um auditorium areas so that they can um maintain the existing fixtures that are there rather than having to replace the entire fixture and provide a new um LED retrofit um bulb. And so again, we're we're trying to make these decisions through the lenses of the guiding principles. you know, it's a it's a sustainability opportunity as well as improving the the arts and culture. So, uh upcoming considerations um these are some of the things that will be big discussions and the hard questions that will be coming up. You know, how how are we will how will required maintenance inform the budget coming forward? Um for selected required maintenance items, you know, what is our timeline? How how are we able to fit that within your
078budget and how quickly do we need to act and how does the sustainability policy inform decisions with respect to the short and long-term costs and environmental impact? Um and then the unstable and uncertain nature of funding. So if anyone has that crystal ball, I'd love um our our next step. So, we're going to continue as we mentioned with the assessment and discovery phases and uh work with John and the fact committee on the required maintenance and how we move forward. We'll be coming back anticipate on June 10th with another update at that time. All right. And so this time we will starting with John. Do you have any questions or comments? Um not right this second. All right. Move on to So I have questions about the roof. There might be more than one. String
079them together. Have my question. You can have my question. There we go. I yield my time lady. I appreciate it. Okay. So, can you just explain to us a little bit? You said 12 out of 14 and then like 9 out of 20. So, is it recommended to to repair areas or are we at the point we need to replace the roof? And what's like cost effective? And so, I'm asking all cost effective and efficiency and also making sure we get another 25 years. So, I'm just trying to figure out what like Yeah. Okay. So, Okay, John, thanks. Go for it. Okay. So, uh with our roofs really, as you can see, the borders kind of around the sections of the roof. When we talk about roof sections, it's usually physical borders that bound them.
080We don't do a section replacement like in the middle of a roof. So, it is very typical that we constantly assess our our older roof sections and take every year the sections that are in most need. Uh it also helps even out the budget flow of doing roof work. So it is very typical in every district I've been in that we go section by section on roofs. Um order of efficiency. Absolutely. If we were to take just a small roof section, it's going to be a lot more per square foot. Uh but there also is a point where we're trying to bite off too much because we do have uh weather windows and everything else in our finite timeline of summer. Um, so yes, we put all that stuff into consideration. Um, it's easier to
081have uh roofing going on at a couple different buildings and trying to do a whole lot at one. Um, so there are a lot of things that go into the planning, but it is absolutely normal for us to go section by section when we're looking at roofs. And so how long how long how many like So when we Yeah, go ahead. So when we talked about um the solar panel ready aspect, uh a modified bit roof is a rubber impregnated asphalt roof that is one very maintainable, repairable in all kinds of weather conditions, but from at least three different manufacturers I know of, we can build roof systems that have 30-year factory warranties. So, uh solar panel systems are generally about 30 years longevity. Uh, so we definitely don't want to put a roof up
082that we'd have to be worrying about replacing before the the life cycle of the panels because it is not worth it to take down 15, 18 year old panels and put them back up. You'd start all over again. So, you've lost that savings you have in the panels. So, everything we're looking at for roofing will be a 30-year warranty. They're highly reflective uh mostly white roofs. Um, so, uh, we're going up to R30 installation value as we do it, which is part of current energy code. So, there's a whole lot that goes into building new roofs, but yes, they would, everything we're talking about is 30 years. So, even if we're not doing solar right away, um, two or three, four years down the road, we want to talk about doing solar. We're well within
083the window of that roof's life expectancy. My last roof question and then I'll pass the floor. Um, you we're not coming back till June 10th. Does that mean we're not doing the roof this summer? We are not doing roofs this summer. the the typical timeline uh to go out for bid on Russ September is ideal. October's to me getting a little late. Okay. So, we have time to get those plans together and and uh look at the budget and determine how much we're going to go out for. J. All right. Um so, this is more of a comment that doesn't necessarily require and it's to the district for the most part. Um, we've identified a couple spaces where there are funds available related to sustainability. Maybe we'll see where the federal guidelines go. I think
084one thing I would love to see with this is a breakdown of the different pieces and what might be grant funding available because you know periodically the state will see how they get impacted by everything that's happening federally. they have grant asks and the more we are prepared to say woo they are doing this and we can just pull out a component and say please to pay for this the better off we will all be um so that's just my quick comment on that and do you have second round anything John anything second round I have another question you okay there we so on the chart that you had where we were in the green with the 60 to 80% um and I you can't help but notice the significant decrease in enrollment um I
085I all I can think about is right it's the next one right there 153 people de right like those are the decreases in enrollment right projected enrollment capac is it the different is that a decrease is that an like what is no that's the difference between the maximum capacity for your building and your actual enrollment and are we do we see a different do we see a decrease in this is my question I assume that that was partially a a kind of a decrease in enrollment also representative because we've had a decrease in enrollment. But the question my question is as we work on spaces um are we doing things that are we aiming for like temporary changes versus permanent changes because we know that enrollment goes up and down and space needs go up
086and down. I I guess I'm just kind of curious about what we're doing when it comes. We've got a lot of stakeholders that are weighing in. Um, you know, we're gonna are we gonna give them a room all of a sudden for one of these things and then like have to take it away like that's really hard. So kind of curious about the use of space and in the current conditions knowing that this can change. Oh yeah. Oh. Okay. Um, so we we target the 65 to 80% because that gives you the most flexibility to schedule your buildings and it allows you to have enough space that you can grow and and cover a couple years as you need to with the enrollment. Um, you never want to be fully utilizing your buildings. It's a
087little different with middle schools. If they have a junior high schedule, which which yours does, you can you can slide that a little bit higher because you don't have a home room, right? a gym could be a first a first schedule instead of everybody going to your home room. So, elementary schools, you definitely want to be within this this 65 to 80% if that helps a little bit. And I think the other thing we're doing with this snapshot and understanding how the spaces are being used and comparing that against capacity is that it will allow you to understand if there is a significantly underutilized facility where you can add those programs and provide them. And I think that Dr. Shaw is being very careful that to to look at how those um feeder patterns work.
088So if we have the ability ability to do that in one feeder pattern that we also can do that in another so that we have parity and equity through through the district. So so those are the things that I think are are the harder future questions but right now we're really trying to understand how the buildings are being used, how we want to use them and evaluate that against the capacity that we have if that makes sense. So, not making big permanent changes. We're not tearing tearing down walls. It's not No, those are those are the big future um changes to to consider once we understand where we are. And I think if you go back to that um priorities or the guidelines page, I think um uh Holly, it's important to say like getting
089the snapshot even the question you asked about that dashboard because once we have that then we can say okay, we might have some changes to make in terms of even how boundaries are cut. So program placement, special education, what is our students journey so that all of our kids that live together end up at the same middle school? We can be thoughtful about that. You know, um all of that requires first having a good understanding of what's our capacity at the buildings right now. If we this is our vision to have these things on that scorecard like where are we over you know overutilized and underutilized and things. So what's going to come out of this master facility plan is the good data to be able to then take a step back and say what
090does the future of the district look like. And then if I may uh for example about looking for alternate sources of funding for some of our projects uh the LED retrofit at the the auditoriums may be up to 40% offset by uh rebates. Um today I was on a teams meeting with uh contractors from both uh Nycore and Kameed to find out what kind of incentives we might qualify for for electrification of that unit at ma'am. So that is that is absolutely part of the drive of sustainability commuting is sustainability group is to drive these decisions and thoughts and everything we do as we're designing our our next steps. Yeah, comedy's been a good partner with um getting grants recently and our consultant has worked with them all the time to work on that. So,
091yes, we will keep an eye on Thank you. One more to go around. John, anything jury? All right, let's thank you. Thank you very much. Awesome. Um we'll move right on ahead to our consent agenda. Can I get a motion from the consent agenda? Second. Johnson is absent. Yes. Moore. Yes. Yes. Burns. Yes. Is absent. Yes. Motion pass. All right. So that brings us to action items. So our teacher association Oak Park teacher association collective bargaining agreement. We need a motion on that one. I move to approve the tenative agreement with the Oak Park teachers association. I'll second more. Yes. Spurlock. Yes. Kim, yes. Burns, yes. Foster, yes. Johnson's asset motion. All right. And on this one, just because it has been a long time coming, um I'm actually going to turn the floor over
092to Holly for a minute to just say a word and then I'll say a word just to say thank you. Um so, as you guys know, this the negotiation went on for a while and I'm the outcome is great and we're really proud of all the hard work from everyone that was on the committee. I just wanted to highlight also that as um as much as we all mutually wanted it to end sooner, the negotiations to end sooner and for us to come to agreement, it's a really nice time to sit and talk to our teachers and for administrators and teachers and board members to be in a room and talk for I mean hours literally like four hours a week for months um in a way that we don't really get to do very
093often. So, I'm just saying that I'm grateful for the time despite the fact that it was long and I, you know, and and sometimes that's painful um to have gotten a chance to sit with our talk, teachers, administrators, and have those conversations. And I'll add to that, thanks to everybody who was in there um teachers, board members, facilitator, it has been six years since we last negotiated our contract because of the pandemic. And because of the pandemic, teaching has changed. You know, needs have changed. um what we are looking at um in the classroom, what our teachers are seeing, what our administration is seeing has seen some upheaval. And so taking that time, as Holly said, to really get a chance to talk to our teachers, see what was there. Oak Park has a very
094rich contract, I'm going to call it. Um you look at some contracts, it's like you show up here, you're done here, have a nice day. Um here are your benefits. We actually have a lot of things specified that I'm actually pretty proud about um in Oak Park because we do really value our teachers and value them as professionals. Um so I just want to say thank you to everyone for in the room for taking that extra time to really come to a contract that I think we can all be proud of. And with that, um we can move on along to our administrator salary increases. You need to Oh, I'm sorry. No, we've I we waited to say nice things until we're officially passed it. Make sure we official. No, no, we're good. We did
095pass. I move to approve a 3.4% increase for district administrators for retroactive to July 1st, 2024. Second. Moore, yes. Spurlo, yes. Kim, yes. Burns, yes. Carney is absent. Her Johnson is absent. Wash driven. Yes. should pass. And then on next piece, we have our donation policy threshold increase. I move that board of education of Oak Park Elementary School District 97 approve the proposed change to board policy 8.80 gifts to the district, increasing the threshold value of gifts to the district that require board approval from $500 to $5,000. Second Johnson is absent while yes Burns yes yes yes Kim yes is absent motion all right with that we are at 94 um Cass bravo summer programming can I ask a question yes um it says on here that it's 59,000 but I thought that our public
096comment raised a really good point about are there other costs that that was just labor that are involved. Um I don't have that information right now but I can get it for you with that. Are you ready to vote? I'm not going to. Okay. Someone else want to do that. Um do you can abstain if you want to table the vote for later. you can table or you can do the vote motion and then if you want to abstain from voting you can do so and the motion will carry based on the number of people who vote yes. I guess my question on that would be we are getting very late to be doing summer programming. Do you need this vote to be able to actually move forward with doing cast at all this summer?
097Bravo I know is separate because they have their own funding. So this is really going to only impact cast. Yeah, I'm looking uh Ebony, do you want to come on up and answer that question? Um, in terms of I know um I don't know if we have the breakdown right now. I don't think uh we we might not have that, but in terms of the question of if this were to we were to get that answer and I still not in favor of it. So, I'm not trying to hold us out. Okay. Okay. So, it's not that's not but but I do think that's important. It's important, but I'm just saying I'm not that's not going to change my position. Okay. All right. So, um the question, Ebony, is if this did not um go
098to vote for uh or go forward this meeting, would we still have time to run the program if it were to be revoted on uh at the next meeting? Or could you charge for it and go back to that model? That would be my other question. Or could we charge for it? I guess I would say that in order to assess that and change the motion or what we're prepared to bring forward tonight, we would need more time. So, we'd still be at that same question like if it this came back at the next board meeting, which is April 8th, would that give us enough time to um you know, to still run the program in the summer? It gets tighter, but I would imagine so. Okay. So then it sounds like one consideration is
099you're saying um Holly that uh you'd like to see the proposal come back with a tuition uh charging the families the same way the same way that it's been done in the past. So that scholarships I mean so I don't want to just say charges like per like the the system we used before to make sure no kid is denied going for funding raisins the same way. Okay. So uh we'd have to I I just would need some time to look at what happened before and how what we would need to replicate and how much that would cost because I I don't know that uh you know we know what it looked like before right now. And before we go that route, we we have one motion on the board to table and move it.
100So I would ask, do we have a second on that? Do we or do are folks ready to vote on this proposal now? I mean, if we vote no, then we go back to the same way, right? Correct. Okay. I vote quality. Okay. All right. Uh so can I get a proposal or a motion? I motion that the board of education of Oak Park Elementary School District 97 moves to approve the 2025 CAT summer programming as presented on February 25th, 2025 not to exceed $59,375. Second, yes. Carney is absent. Burns, yes. No. Kim, yes. Johnson is absent. More? No. The motion. All right. Moving along. Thank you. Thanks. Um, moving along to access to algebra additional staffing request. Give you a minute to just give an overview of that one to folks. Yep. So we
101have um we brought forward a proposal for uh staffing for the access to algebra and we do need um three additional staff and so uh this is a you know a proposal to to fund that a victim of our success. I a victim of not having another program that gives kids access. Um would someone like to read the motion? I move that the board of education of Oak Park Elementary School District 97 approve the additional staffing for access to algebra somewhere up to additional $20,000. Actually, I I'm going to pause for a second before we get a second. Do you have a question? I feel like there was a question that maybe No, I just Yeah. Okay. I just want to make sure that we were not skipping it on that. Um All right. Do
102we have a second? I'll second. Carney is absent. Kim, yes. Moore, no. No. Burns. Yes. Yes. Johnson's absent. There is a majority of the poll here. Motion pass. Oh, yeah. Didn't you have three last time? We had three last time, didn't we? So, does that mean we also had two or one of We didn't have a person. Wait, sorry, I missed that. I thought we had three yeses and two nos last time as well. First one, you had an extension, correct? No, two. Three. Yeah. For the current vote, there were three yeses and two no. So, the motion carried because the majority ruled. For the vote prior to that, there were two yes, two no, one abstain. No, that's what I was saying. We had three yes and two no last time for for for
103Bravo cast. Holly didn't. She didn't. She voted no. You said no. Sh. My apologies. So, the motion passed. Yeah, I heard it. All right. With that clarification, thank you. Um we have our discussion items. Annual uh audit results are up first. We have Nick Cavary from Baker to present those results. Good evening. Good evening again. Um the board should have received copies of the audited financial statements. It's the large spiral round booklet and then there's also an audit results document that you will have received. Um I'm just going to provide a real brief overview of the financial results and then open it to any questions that you may have. Um we completed our audit and issued our reports in January. Um the type of opinion that we rendered on your financial statements is an unmodified
104audit opinion. That's the highest level of assurance that you can receive from the external auditor that your financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Um your all of your your documents have been filed with various state agencies and federal agencies. Um the district is also required to submit an annual financial report to the Illinois State Board of Education. Um within that document there's a financial profile score that gets calculated that looks at a series of benchmarks your revenues to expenditures days of cash on hand um compared to operating expenditures focuses on your ED working cash operations and maintenance and transportation fund um the highest score that you can receive is a four on a four point scale received a 3.9 which is the recognition status that's the highest um I guess
105score essentially that you can receive from the state board um which is consistent with your financial results. All of your funds for the most part operated well within their resources for the year. Um one of the things that somewhat contributed to that were that your property taxes in the prior fiscal year were delayed because the county was late in sending their bills. So there was some additional uplift and your revenues that were recognized in your fiscal year 24 financial statements, but ultimately everything was was in good order um with the district's financial results in in the audited report. Um more than happy to take any questions that the board may have at this time. All right, we are starting with Holly this go around. Have any questions? Nope. Sheree. Nope. Thank you. Thank you. I
106will also say thank you and I don't have any questions. So all right and with that we will take you and thanks for being here. And we are moving right along to our um park district IGA extension. So this is a five-year extension. This is an existing an IGA that we've had for many years in the past. We brought forward an 18-month extension last time. This is a five-year extension. Um longstanding relationship and long-standing IGA with the health district. Uh does anyone have any questions? Actually, wait. Sorry. We'll do this more officially. Sheree, any questions? Nope. Colleen? Nope. John? Oh, Holly? Nope. All right, moving on along. We have press. Come on. Good evening everyone. Um, for the record, Luis Rodriguez and I'll just be presenting briefly on press flush issues 116 and 117. Um,
107just a really quick recap. Uh, policies are updated either periodically um in group issues via ISB recommendation or is needed when the admin team or board of ed recognizes a need to revisit a practice kind of like what we just did earlier as it relates to the policy threshold update. Um today's presentation just a brief reminder to the public on the board policy process highlighting select proposed changes to board policy with the board of education um now that the admin has had a chance to review and provide input. So basically everyone across the room for me and then lastly to provide the board of ed an opportunity to give feedback on any proposed substantive changes and or offer any changes of their own prior to adopting. Um the adoption date will be April 8th. Um,
108this is just a really quick recap of the current policy revision steps. Step one is ISB press sends the suggested updates to us. Step two is the administrative team unpacks the suggested updates and vets, then forwards to the board's policy committee for input and review. Um, as you saw by the heads head nods by Dr. Deleó in response to uh, Holl's comment about um, updates to the curriculum policy. All of that stuff is vetted prior to coming to this table. Step three is a public reading of the proposed substantive changes with significant implications to the board, gather feedback from you, and provide the general public an opportunity to listen. And then lastly, the board votes on the proposed changes. And again, that's slated for the next board meeting. Um, with respect to issues 116 and
10917, there's 24 updates. 20 of them were MITER. So, that's primarily just an addition or a subtraction to existing board policy that's not really going to change anything as it relates to our day-to-day practice. Then there's substantive changes and those are necessary changes that might have implications on how we run things as a day-to-day uh business of a school district. Um non-s substantive changes previously shared with the board's committee. So thank you Holly and Colleen for your review. Um and then with the entire board, I believe you have links and we will also forward the the final versions before the board prior to taking action on the ETH and there were no real concerns identified prior to today. Um, with respect to the substantive changes, there was only four. Those are also previously shared with
110the board. The committee again, thank you for your input. Um, as well as the administrative team had a chance to review. So, thank you to all of them as well providing their input for the few weeks prior to today's date. And all required substantive changes are already being addressed by the administrative team. Again, most recent example is Dr. DeLeon and his team with respect to the curriculum policy update. our curriculum policy updates and how that's going to translate into day-to-day. First substantive changes with respect to the UGP and the proposed policy change completely removes any title 9 complaint which is sex discrimination from the UGP process that used to be a delineated if someone brought a cause of action via title 9, we follow the UGP. it's been taken out on account of the fact
111that there are specific procedures in the code of federal regulations that govern that and that changes depending on who's at um right that who's in our federal administration who's running the show at the top. Um so the current title 9 gent procedures I provided a link to those um you can review those as you see fit. Um title 9 and 720 which is harassment of students we're updating the language to include Dr. Campbell Tomov as coordinator and complaint manager. also clarifies that students who complain of sex harassment can use title n grievous procedure to do so. I point that out because harassment of student 720 doesn't just cover sex harassment. It covers other forms of harassment as well. So that's just a distinction letting people know that you can use title 9 to address that.
112I have a quick question. Sure. So it says the what is the difference between or is there a difference between the coordinator and the complaint manager? Yeah. So just generally speaking, the complaint managers are the individuals who typically would receive the complaint and handle it. The coordinator can also rem come in and out, but that's a support role as well. And I'm always working with these groups. So we have them named because we have to have them named, but we work with each other in conjunction with responding to the actual complaints. Typically, our complaint manager would be your first. Yeah. And that's what I was going to say. Like is there any level of like um I saw it, what did you say? What do you think? So I will share with you yes that
113that's every day as it relates to how we interact with each other and dealing with these matters. Okay. And then lastly, curriculum content. And I just wanted to point this out. This was pointed out earlier. The proposed change includes a mandate that instruction including material on the dangers of fentinel as well as career development activity requirements for sixth through eighth grade students. It also includes updated language on curriculum requirements related to climate change and resource convers conservation beginning in 2026. and how that spells out. That's what our administrative team looks at um and tussles with, I guess, when they're determining the day-to-day implications of this policy package. And that's it as it relates to these two. Um yeah, any questions that are taken here, I'll do them my best to respond to now. And if
114I can't, I will follow up with a memo. All right, Sh, you're up. I just think it was really good. Is there any way to put that process of changing a policy like on a website or somewhere so that people can understand because I think we get that there's a misunderstanding this here in our board update newsletter that yeah um something so that it's so I think like if you miss one right and we're right before um spring break I was like what is this called we're right before spring break so I don't know how many people are going to pay attention when that comes out but I think this would be super helpful especially especially we're in election season. Um, and so I think like people really understanding the role of the board. Um,
115and like who's responsible for what. So if there's any way to like keep either keep sharing this, put on the website, um, maybe like the section for the board, um, that will I think that will help. Yeah. And this is a really good presentation. So yeah, I think the intent is not is to also keep getting better as well. So I'll talk to Dr. Sha. figure out the best way to do that because this process has already been publicly shared. Yes, I think this is so like clear and I think even if you don't know the language and just all the barriers, this is like very straightforward. Um, so yeah, the more we can like provide insight and education, um, this is really good. We can also highlighted in our board highlights that this is
116how the process works. Yeah, like you said. And we It's funny because we're always teasing Luis about how boring his slides are. I really like what middle. Thank you. He took the time. He was very proud. I like even if we like shared this with PTO so that we can really start to um not normalize but really just like ingrain this because I think like people have said to me like, "Why didn't you just change this?" cuz I'm like that's not what we do and I'm like trying to explain process and I'm like second guessing myself. So um this is really helpful. Sure. Well thank you and we can find ways to integrate more discussion about policy changes with the public. Sure. Um and my comment is just thank you very much. Thank you to
117our two committee members. Appreciate that a lot and appreciate it. So any comments coming? Nope. John? No. No. All right. That's my report. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And with that, we are moving on to concluding items. So, board remarks. Um, I will just go around again on that one. So, Colleen, any um so I was contacted by a member of the chair of the vill's disability access commission interested in talking about accessibility issues in the district, in particular accessible parking at our schools. Um and so I just be in light of where we are with master facilities planning just wanted to put a plug that and I connected you Dr. Shaw while we were sitting here um to um use the disability access commission's resources um and forum as an opportunity to engage
118the community around our disability access uh conversation. Yeah. Yeah. I'll definitely reach. All right, John, any comments? Are we doing reporting out of committees too or do we combine those with the remarks? Uh no, don't combine it. Okay. Um so I just wanted to say that I um on the math access to algebra. I read the memo. I understand we need more teachers. we we don't want to have 36 um kids in those classes with when we especially with the contract but also because I it's not great for kids and I would be supportive of it but I had sent a question in advance and so I just wanted to before I and I think this meeting was a little bit rushed so I didn't want to stop us and have a conversation but um
119I think that it's really important we do have a lot of people signing up for it and I think that parents I'll speak for myself and the parents I've talked to are they expect their kid to do well enough and accelerate to get access to algebra. So, I appreciate that we're bringing in more teachers. I think that's a good thing, but I also feel like um we I I think that we've got to make sure we're providing whatever other supports we need so that kids actually succeed here. I think there's going to be a lot of frustration with the fact that this is the only way to get this kind of um this this particular access to algebra. And if we have people spend these this time where they're taken away from sore and other
120extracurricular activities that happen during sore and then they spend the time in the summer and then they don't pass and that's a surprise. It's kind of like when you go through performance management and all of a sudden you get told at the end of the year you didn't have as great a year as you thought. So I I my questions were really to tea up yes to more teachers but is that all we need? We've got a lot more parents. We've got a range of apparently a range of abilities. uh we got good we have diversity. So I would appreciate and happy to support more teachers but a little more comprehensive um information about what else besides more instructors and smaller classrooms are we doing to make these have these spaces. So I think it's
121important and you know this is I know that you know we want to be uh attentive to the time but I think this is a topic that's been a lot of discussion on over the years you know and a lot um we've presented in repeated ways so at some point I think it's it's also just the big takeaway is like all students have access to that grade level curriculum and this is about that acceleration you know and so we want to be thoughtful about I think this is and this conversation came up even with thection ives and I really appreciated what you said Holly like can we introduce some new tools for us to have this productive conversation with our children like it's not just a given assumption that everybody needs to whatever take this
122elective or be accelerated in this way or you know and so how how do we make sure that we're stopping to um have those conversations as a family and use the actual achievement of the standards to make those decisions and we do need to be thoughtful about the pressure that kids feel like I'm because the truth of the matter is, you know, um it's about being competent and holistically competent in a lot of ways and that is a a universal guarantee for that we're working on for all of our kids. Not everyone has to get on this pathway and excel at it. And there's and I know you know this, but just a reminder that there's so many other pathways, too. So, we just need to be thoughtful about like how um you know how
123we're supporting having that conversation about um if you know if this is a required if it's not a required pathway for everyone you know um okay so but that so I understand I hear you yeah I I'm not comfortable voting on more teachers alone without kind of a little more information about the supports that's That's fair. We're happy to answer all your questions. Um, and I uh I I think how can we introduce more ways for us as a school district to um be involved and provide tools for those conversations to happen in families in a productive way too is really something we'll think about. Sh. Uh similarly um you know I voted no on two things and I want to first up give Tina a big um applause. I think the the public comment
124about like what she's done and how amazing Bravo is. I have a Bravo kit and I have to always remind her is Bravo not Broadway. Um but they do a lot of work and it's a lot and there's you know some frustrations that come along with the time commitment but it's an amazing program. I just um I feel like I would like to us to get a little bit more thoughtful um about some of these things. Like these are big dollar amounts that add up and um I just feel like there's there has been more than I feel comfortable with like oops we forgot about this or we didn't think about this or we'll think about that next time. We'll take that into consideration. We've been talking about this math program for quite some time.
125Um and there have been some bumps already that I've heard from folks. So, not to say there won't be, but I think that um I just want us to be like more thoughtful about these things up front so that we have the bigger picture and it's not like, "Oh, I forgot about $20,000." Like that's like if I said like, "Oops, I forgot to pay you $20,000." Like, um so I just think to to Holly's point, like the services um like what does that look like? Um, and I know that, yeah, I just wanted to be a little bit more thoughtful because I mean, everyone's filling the the crutch of $5 box of cereal. And so, as as we are stewards of the taxpayers dollars, like people are looking like, you know, we look at our
126scores and then we're giving like $20,000 for three more teachers. Um, why didn't we figure out all this in the in the front end? So, I think like more explanation to the public about like why these things are happening as well. Um because we have to answer those questions and we we're accountable for that. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, even for example, just even like you said, you appreciated that last slide about the policy. We could have put a slide together to say this is because it's it's not that we forgot. Although you're right, it could look like that. It's that we misestimated, you know, we didn't estimate appropriately or accurately. So I think what we can say is like this is what we thought was going to happen. we have so I I can
127appreciate that it would be helpful to have maybe a visual um and I'll make sure that we do that or even like if we have a I think that estimate so that if we think maybe we might um but I think for people who are watching this and they're they're like I literally got a question like the test scores but we're doing access to algebra like my kid can't even add and subtract. Um so yeah good. Yeah. Um I will just add in a quick board remark first of all to say thank you to our admin and to Dr. Shaw who all waited until after OPTA um signed off on their contract to get their increases for the year. Um, I think that's a nice moment of leadership that everyone was willing to wait until
128after everyone got their increases rather than taking those early. Um, I also just wanted to say thank you to everyone here and especially to our presenters. We are trying, you might have heard people say rushed and we're trying a little different here. Um, we have we are trying to be respectful to all the people who are sitting through our meetings, to all of our staff who have to come back to work tomorrow morning, especially when we have teachers in the building. Um, to make sure that we are actually being expeditious with our time, but still allow for discussion. Um, it's a work in progress. We'll shift it as we go, but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for respecting that and working with us to make that work tonight. Um and I
129think with that I'm the last person. So we are moving on to um our board assignments. All right. Did FAC have a meeting? They did, but um it was the presentation we got tonight. So killed two birds. Exactly. Uh what about parent teacher advisory? We had a meeting was really good. Um John and I both went. Uh we are working towards a community conversation about kind of helping folks understand kind of the development of K through 8th graders. Um hoping to um also get in a little bit into kind of like literally their brains and and why decisions are made and emotions and why they might have behaviors that are frustrating. And um then when you have like thousands of them and that that's really frustrating um that and why we as adults things we
130can do to kind of learn more and educate ourselves. Um and then treat them, you know, treat them appropriately based on kind of what we can learn and talk about kids a little, you know, with a little bit of grace for kind of what they their brains are going through. We have a great community member who's a professor who um is agreed to kind of partner with us and we've got a nice group of um a nice diverse group of parents and teachers and administrators in the room and I have found the conversation to be um really kind of very kind of positive and thoughtful about kids and consequences and like you know getting people comfortable with um you know consequences and restorative practices. It's been good. That's been my experience. All right. Um then
131fork I was at fork meeting. We did um we talked about the audit which is why I normally would have questions about it but I didn't because we've talked about it twice. Um we actually also got um you guys have know Rob Gy who's been a consultant in the district for a while. Um he is probably the person connected to the district that we work with the most that's most in touch with what's happening with the department of education and funding. Um our question to him was about federal funding and he quickly said that is not the problem. It is Illinois funding. So um our plan with and we needed the contract to be um ratified and signed. So, now that we have a contract, we're going to recalculate our budgets based on the new
132um numbers that come out of it. As most people know, 70% of our budget is staffing, and of that staffing, a significant portion is teachers. So, um we're going to redo all of our numbers. We're going to get all new projections, and then we're going to u meet again with with that happens. Um and then get to the last board meeting in May. We will have Rob come and talk about those issues. We'll update the community on the economics of the contract and how it impact might impact our projections and also some of the external factors that we can't control and how that will also impact our finance. Looking forward to that one. Um, all right. I got Oh, I got Venus. So, she is out. Um, PTOC, we met was that Monday? No, yeah,
133whatever day. They'll be pleased that we passed the update to the gift giving policy. Although I do think we should circle back to them about the new process that Exactly. Yeah. So, um I don't know when the next meeting is calendared for, but maybe you and I can connect after. Yep. I already had game planning with Dr. Shaw. Thank you. And thank you for um I emailed Luis like right after we left that meeting and he um responded immediately. So, thank you so much for that. You're welcome. Uh, next up would be cross agency sustainability exchange. I missed that meeting due to a conflict and Gavin's the other person. So, I don't know if you have a quick update you can give on that one or we can wait until Gavin's back. Yep. So, we
134met um you know what we have going on is we have this new uh cross agency sustainability exchange with the village D200 and D97. So, that's like this case group. And then we also have the D97 task force. So we had the D97 task force meeting and you were there um collaboration for early childhood. I was at Oh, okay. Sorry. There's so many there's so many meetings everybody's but yes. Yeah. Anyway, okay. So yeah, so we met and um just gave an update on the different people that are on the D97 sustainability task force sit on these different case work groups. So they gave updates and uh we're gearing up for you know standing up those new structures. So we'll have more of an update after um in a in April we meet again. Thank
135you. Uh collaboration for early childhood is next and that was me and thank you Colleen for filling in. Um couple big things on well one big thing on there and just a a note is that they are also looking at state and federal funding um and what the impacts might be. Uh when last we spoke you may recall that we were talking about possibly expanding CEC um beyond the borders of folk park. They are now kind of pulling that back a little bit. They're obviously still collaborating with folks but um just being cautious given current funding situations. Um it is also been I believe two decades now that we have been rolling over our IG. Uh no 10 anyway a very long time we have been rolling over the IG. Um so everyone uh around
136the table the the village uh D200 and D97 and CEC all agree that maybe it's time we actually take a look at that document. So we will be convening a committee to actually take a look at it. Um, so be on the lookout for new CEC IGA to review. Um, and let's see, uh, Oak Park Education Foundation. Anything? We meet tomorrow. Okay, perfect. Um, River. Oh, OPRF is also Venus Ed. Anything exciting? Um, no. The last meeting was last week and they talked about some of the hot bills that they're um trying to push back or have concerns about. One was around emergency third party contracts, um a requirement for computer science instruction, uh the removal and dismissal of teachers, and then there was a call for witness slips to oppose uh basically the PE
137waiver. Um and then in terms of things they're continuing to work on which hasn't changed. Uh one is around um the paid leave stuff uh which would uh be an undue burden on school districts. So that's been assigned to committee. Uh schools as polling places uh that they've been working on that for several years. That's also been assigned to committee. Um and then the dual credit um work has been uh in committee. So I don't think there's any I don't know how long I'll be on committee. So I'll report back when there is um more decision about that. Great. Um and with that, does anyone have any questions about proposed agenda for April 8th? Um it looks like there's a repeat of the um middle school redesign even though we just did that. Yeah. And
138so um so we Yes, you're correct. Okay, we can leave it there if it's helpful to just have an ongoing update, but if you'd rather wait until May. We just didn't want to get too far ahead of you. Um I think we just wanted to make sure you felt like you knew what was happening. But what I can do is um maybe share the update with the board and then if you feel like it doesn't necessarily warrant an update at the table, we can modify it. Yeah. Any other questions? All right. And with that, I will entertain a motion to uh move into close session. I move that we move into executive session for the purpose of equipment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, dismissal, specifics, collective negotiating matters, matters related to individual students, meeting between internal
139external affairs, litigation of action against public Johnson is absent, is absent, yes, yes, yes. Kim, yes. more. Yes. Motion to go into close session 856.