September 2025 Regular Meeting (Recording)

001Because this involves a minor and is part of an active police investigation, there are strict legal protections in place both around student privacy and law enforcement processes. This means we cannot speak to the identity of the student involved or the specific disciplinary steps being taken. We also cannot speak of any details that might impede Rome Meadows PD's active police investigation. I fully understand how frustrating that is and um but our obligation is to follow these laws and that is critical and must be upheld without exception. So what we can share here is what we are able to share. School staff were prompted to engage the student in a separate and unrelated disciplinary matter yesterday at approximately 2:30 p.m. This disciplinary matter eventually led to a search of the students belongings by a school administrator. The

002firearm was discovered during this search and the SRO, our school resource officer, was called immediately. No other weapons were found with the student or in the school building where Rolling Meadows PD conducted a thorough search uh that evening. No threat was made and the weapon remained in the student's death. As far as we know, the student was taken into police custody yesterday and prompted the thorough and police investigation that is still underway. A lockdown of our of Plum Grove was not called by the school due to the weapons immediate confiscation and that it took place after school hours. This is in alignment with our security protocols as a district. Principal Rivera, Dr. Hines, and other administrators, uh, Rolling Meadows PD and the district's legal team were in immediate communication and co and coordination for the

003district's response. Additionally, the board of education was notified about the incident and I remained in communication with Dr. Hines until late last night and throughout the day today. Since the incident, Rolling Meadows PD has sent out uh two press releases from the district side. Initial communication was shared with Plum Grove Middle School families um at about 700 p.m. last night. As soon as we received word from Rolling Meadows PD that they were far enough in their along in their investigation that we could communicate initial facts about the incident, discussions with Rolling Meadows PD and our attorneys continued through the evening and we were able to communicate additional information to families late yesterday evening. The district team and Plum Grove leaders um also met late into the evening last night to ensure a plan was in

004place this morning to support students and staff. Finally, the students involved did not attend school today and will not be present during the investigation. So, looking ahead, a communication um with the details that we have shared tonight will be sent to families via email um by the district either late tonight or first thing tomorrow morning. Um according to Dr. Hines, building leaders um building and district leaders will be meeting to debrief the incident, reflect on what went well, and identify ways we can strengthen our communication and safety practices moving forward. This is a common occurrence in the district after any major incident to help our team learn and grow in our safety response and practices. Additionally, on September 19th, our district safety committee made up of administrators and representatives from local police and fire departments

005will meet to discuss the regular agenda items as well as the Plumgrow situation. The group will review our response protocols and determine what adjustments should be made for any future situation involving a weapon. at school. Based on um findings from the police, the police will determine how to proceed through their investigation. Once they've done so, disciplinary action will be taken in accordance with board policy 7190 under the weapons section. This includes expul potential expulsion up to two years. We know families have questions and concerns. If you're a Plum Grove Middle School parent or guardian and you have concerns, we encourage you to reach out directly to Principal Rivera. She and her team are responding to questions as quickly and clearly as they can in coordination with district administration and our attorney. We have reviewed we

006have received feedback about communication from the district, some of which will be incorporated into that reflection and review process I mentioned earlier. um and that we will be able to then address, some of which the district cannot address due to the legal reasons shared previously. We ask that you please refrain from sharing or resharing rumors on social media as this creates misinformation and is stoking an additional level of fear. Finally, I want to say thank you to Principal Ria and the Plum Grove Middle School staff, Dr. Hines and district staff involved and certainly the Rolling Meadows Police Department. >> Thank you um for your swift response and coordination. I also want to thank Plum Grove families who reached out to share their questions, concerns, and feedback with us. It is deeply meaningful. As a district,

007we remain committed to creating safe, welcoming schools for every child every day and continuously continuously improving where needed. We thank you for your trust and partnership in that work. We are in complicated times and this incident, the news of today's shooting and recent church shooting in Minnesota only reemphasize the importance of this work together to create a safe community for each other and for our children. Thank you. All right. Um, pledge of allegiance from Thomas Jefferson Middle School. [Music] All right. Good evening, President Ader, members of the board of education, and superintendent, Dr. Hanks. Uh, my name is Tamara Burn. I'm the proud principal at Thomas Jefferson Middle School. And tonight, we are excited to provide a glimpse into daily life at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, featuring representatives from two of our extracurricular clubs that

008are open to all students. TJTV, led by Miss Katie Burns, um produces our daily morning announcements as well as other special features. Students create content using a variety of tools including GoPro video and photography. We video, Canva, Google Slides, and music production software. Opportunities are available for all students of all skill levels, both on air and behind the scenes. Also, ASL club led by Miss Beth Mackkins offers students a chance to learn and practice American Sign Language. Activities include introducing themselves, learning colors, numbers, weather, songs, and games. Students have also learned to sign the pledge of allegiance, which you will see tonight. The students have prepared a short video to share with the board and members of the audience, which will then lead us into the pledge of allegiance. [Music] [Applause] Thank you. [Applause] [Music]

009[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Thank you. [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] No. TJMS, please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] technical difficulty with sound too. Could any of you help? >> It was working and then it cut out. So maybe the producing school. We are so thankful that you have such a wonderful um club at your school TJTV. I've had the pleasure of of seeing it in action. So, um, on behalf of the board of education, me, we have a little high five highlighter for each of you to help, uh, keep track of your notes and what you're going to be reporting on. >> All right. Thank

010you and thanks for coming tonight. Would you like one as well? >> All right, everybody come together. We're going to take a couple pictures. Mrs. Anderson will take a few shots. Parents, guardians, whomever would like to take pictures of their kids, come on up. Now's your chance. Great. Maybe two rows. [Music] Thanks again. >> Thank you. Nice recognition. [Applause] [Music] wants to go with her big sister. >> All right. Good evening, President Ader, Superintendent Hines, and the esteemed members of our board of education. Um, I'm Emily McFaten. I am the assistant superintendent in the department of teaching, learning, and assessment. I am joined uh by Steven Gaus. He is the director of the Chamber of Commerce for both Palletine and Rolling Meadows, and he is our sponsor for the event we are here to talk

011about and celebrate our students for tonight. Um, so we are thrilled to celebrate our students from the Young Entrepreneurs Academy or YEA. It's a transformative program that empowers students to dream big and think like business leaders. The YA connects students with local mentors and investors who guide them in developing real world business skills, building confidence, and turning bold ideas into actionable projects that open doors for future possibilities. Over a 20week journey, these remarkable students collaborated with local business leaders, community partners, and educators to transform their visions into companies that deliver both economic and social impact. Their hard work culminated in an exciting investor panel event modeled after Shark Tank where these students pitched their businesses to local investors for the chance to launch their ideas into real life enterprises. So this month we are proud

012to recognize students uh three students from the 2425 YA program who earned top honors at the investor panel event held at Harper College last spring. The first is a DT is seven uh was in seventh grade at Plum Grove Middle School and created made by heart trinket trays an artful dish for keys and jewelry. Uh a DT earned first place in advance to the advanced to present at the national level last May. So congratulations. We also have a a seventh grader also at Plum Grove Middle School who designed PillPal, a medication reminder app. And not here is Andrew, who is a now a ninth grader at Friend High School, former Sunling student who developed Dozy Delights, which were glutenfree and dairyfree cookies. We commend VT Andrew Aya for their creativity, their hard work and entrepreneurial

013spirit. Their accomplishments reflect the best of what our students can do here in district 15 when we help them aim high and achieve higher. So, we would like to thank all of our students who participated and our local chamber of commerce for their support in this Congratulations. [Applause] And both of your inventions have seemed to be very practical and something I could actually use. Very nice. Let me know when they're for sale. Thank you. It's always good to see. All right, come on over. Take pictures. Do you want to get in, Dr. Bannon? And then family members that want to take a picture, come on up. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Very nice. Congratulations. [Applause] You guys want to come out? >> Um, we have our staff recognition of Corine Jones, our director of

014health services. [Applause] >> Hello. Excuse me. Good evening, President Ader, members of the board of education, superintendent Hines, and members of the community. My name is Mindy McGuffin. I'm the assistant superintendent for student services and related services. And I'm very proud this evening to introduce Karine Jones, director of health services. The Department of Student Services and Related Services was proud to nominate Karine Jones for recognition as a staff member who goes above and beyond for her service to the district and for her personal accomplishments as director of health services. In August, Karine took a national exam containing four content areas: health appraisal and nursing process, health promotion, disease prevention, school health practice considerations, and professional responsibilities. The exam is so rigorous that according to the National Board of Certified School Nurses website, in 2013, 1,199

015examinations were administered and only or 70% of candidates passed the exam nationally. On August 1st, 2025, Karine passed the national examination, commensurately demonstrating a high level of education, clinical practice, experience, and knowledge, earning her the achievement of being named a nationally certified school nurse. [Applause] Earning this credential validates Karine's skills and knowledge and recognizes her commitment to student and school safety. At the district level, Karine advanced to her current position of director of health services in November of last year. Since that time, she has distinguished herself as an administrator through her collaborative leadership of the health services department. Karine is always championing our certified school nurses, school nurses, and health team who provide skilled care for the health, wellness, and safety of our students, staff, and community. She is resourceful in developing community connections and

016building supports and relationships to maintain or bring vital programs for vision, dental, and soon-to-be immunization clinics for our students. her boundless energy combined with her care and concern for the greater good and benefit of all the students, staff, and community of district 15 each and every day. Karin, we thank you for your leadership and congratulations on your new credential. We are so proud of you. [Applause] Come on over to highlight it for you. Yeah, I told you that I was going to do that. So, the two of you could take a photo and then I'm going to have all her nurse pals that I know had lunch today or dinner tonight to come on up for a picture. Uh, and then we can do one with her family. So, let's have the nurses come on

017up first. The die hard stuck around after the teacher party. There was a whole room of them in the Okay, good. Great. We just move. >> Thank you very much. >> Very nice. Uh, >> is your family here? Yeah. [Music] Never mind. >> Thank you. Our [Applause] next staff recognition Michael [Music] Good evening, President Ader, uh, Superintendent Hinds, board members, and members of the public this evening. ing. I bring a very special lady to uh in front of you. Um this is Darell Fontiggeras. Derell has been with the school district 45 years. [Applause] >> Derell was born in downtown Chicago. uh graduated from Taft High School. Uh she got married and she moved to Desplain and then eventually to Palatine where she put both her boys through District 15 schools. One of her boys uh

018was in the special needs programs and when the driver turned up at her house one day he tried to talk Darell into being a school bus driver which she pushed back a little. Okay. Um 2 days later he said to her, I've got you an interview. This is when you have to be there. >> Um in those days training was very very quick. Not like the two to six weeks we do nowadays. Dell was given the interview, did 4 hours training and that was on the 8th of September. Today the 10th of September is the 45th year since she has started riding buses and she's been with us ever since Dell started uh and she admitted at the time that it was supposed to be a stop gap job for her. and she wasn't looking

019for a full time and she still says that she still uh Darell has been and continues to be an excellent employee and school bus driver for district 15. She has worked with many administrators, transportation directors and has seen many drivers come and go within her tenure in the district. She joined transportation as I say very reluctantly but soon found that she took to bus driving relatively easy and has not looked back and she's now part of the family uh that has surrounds her within the transportation department and hopefully she'll be here for a few more years. Ladies and gentlemen, a round of fun together. [Applause] [Music] >> Take a picture. We'd love to take a picture of you for our website. >> Brley, do you want to join her? [Music] >> Great. >> Can I

020get you holding your teeth, please? >> Perfect. [Applause] And then Scott, do you want to be in a picture with Jerel? Are you sure? >> She She's got me. I only have like 18 years. >> All right. >> I just want to get one for our website. [Music] >> Get in there, Tom. Yeah. Get in there. >> I guess we'll let you be in there. All right. One, two, three. How do you two know each other? [Music] Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Congratulations. >> Okay. So, we will now open our meeting for public comment. Public comment is governed by board policy to pull into 30. Please remember this is not a dialogue between you and the board. If you have a specific issue that requires a response, Superintendent Hines or Design will

021follow up with you as needed. Please state your name and identify any group that you represent. Please limit your remarks to no more than 3 minutes. If someone has previously articulated something with which you agree, please state that you agree rather than reiterating the entire comment. We encourage you to avoid comments specific to any person, student, or staff member respecting their right to privacy. This is not the forum to comment on personnel issues. Finally, the board accept expects and appreciates mutual respect, civility, and orderly conduct throughout the meeting. All right. Uh Luis Gutierrez [Applause] Good evening board. Uh this is my third time speaking in front of the board and I in previous uh statements I know I spoke passionately and energetically towards the board. Uh I wanted to take a second and personally come

022in lie and despite yesterday's events to uh thank you uh the to the board members uh Dr. Lazour and Mrs. Uh, Berbansky, on behalf of the Griier family, I want to thank you for approving our son's transfer to the Plum Grove um, school district so that he can continue his dual language program. He absolutely loves it there. This opportunity allows him to stay on path uh, that we started many many years ago. I've never seen a kid more excited to go to school. So, I'm grateful and appreciative. In lie of yesterday's events, I am a person that believes that actions have consequences and severe action should have severe consequences. And I know that we're going to hear a lot of statements today from the police and we're not going to spread rumors, but my suggestion

023is immediate expulsion. You're lucky that a student isn't dead. And I understand that there was an aggression and I understand that the weapon wasn't shown. I think we're all very lucky. Uh I am a proponent and an advocate of the Second Amendment. As an immigrant, I believe in it. But there are reasons why minors aren't allowed to do things and I call for his expulsion regardless of what the investigation states. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Right choice, Slavic. [Music] There we go. My name is Joyce Sonic. I'm a parent of graduates in the district and my topic is gun violence prevention. According to CNN's analysis of events reported by the Gun Violence Archive, Education Week in Every Town for Gun Safety, there have been 47 school shootings in the United States so far

024this year as of September 10th, and probably does not include the two today. 24 were on college campuses, 23 were on K through2 school grounds. The incidents left 19 people dead and at least 77 other victim inj victims injured and trauma across the board. Um to bring this close to home, of course, there was the report of a student at Plumro Middle School caught bringing his gun to school. Um that's the school where my kids went. Um what we often hear after a shooting or um is I didn't think it could happen here, but it happens everywhere. It could have happened in our district this week. The good news is we can and are do doing something about it in our school district to educate the public about safe gun storage and I cannot thank

025you enough. Um I greatly appreciate that the district has created a page on gun safety as part of the district website. I am thankful that be smart is included as a resource as well as where to obtain free gun locks. Um there is a new law, new gun safe gun storage law that was signed into law in July and requires gun owners to secure their firearms in a locked container um to prevent access by minors, at risk individuals or prohibited persons. The new uh the new law requires the lock containers, but aside from the law, we want adults to understand their ability and their responsibility to prevent gun deaths. My ask is that there is communication pushed out again to parents and guardians with information on the importance of safe gun storage. Uh, safeguard storage

026is the law for homes that have got children under 18 and present in the home. Um, it's great to have that information there, but we need to make sure that um, people are likely to that they're going to see it. Uh, especially now that we have a new school year and many new families. Um, guns are the number one cause of death for children, surpassing even car accidents. 4.6 million American children live in homes with at least one gun that is loaded and unlocked. 50% of gun owners have at least one gun that is not secured. And 76% of firearms used in school of violence were obtained from the home of a friend or close relative. Suicide attempts with guns are almost always lethal. And I would say that the adults need to be held

027responsible. They are the ones who should be locking up those guns. Um there's no responsibility for the school board to make sure parents lock up their guns. This is an opportunity to get gun owners and non-gun owners to recognize the lethal risk of unsecured guns. Safe gun storage saves lives. Thank you for your service and for considering this very important topic and please push it out the new letters. I appreciate what you guys are doing. Thank you so much. >> All right, Jean Man. [Music] I will be very brief. Um, what brought me here this evening was seeing comments on Facebook and other associated uh groups regarding what happened yesterday with a gun in the possession of being possessed by a student. Um, I saw a lot of frustration from parents directed toward the teachers,

028the principal, our superintendent. What are you going to do about this? What are you going to do? Our kids aren't safe. I'm afraid to send my kid to school. And on and on and on. My personal belief is your frustrations, rightfully so, frustrated. But those frustrations need to be directed to your state and federal legislators, not your teachers, not your principles, not your superintendent. As we saw yesterday, they did a phenomenal job of stepping in when they knew they had a child that needed to be addressed immediately and they did it and there was no terrible incident afterwards. The gun issue in this country [Music] can only be resolved, my personal belief, based on nothing else. when the adults that own the guns take full responsibility for what happens with that gun that they purchased.

029I understand there are many children who somehow get a gun through the black market, through gangs, through whatever. That's not the parent that I'm directing it. I'm directing it to the parent that purchases a gun, has it in their house, and as this other woman just said, doesn't have it locked up. I want people to direct their frustrations, not at those on the front lines. Whether it's teachers, nurses, the people you need to direct your frustration to are your state and federal legislators. Let them know what you will no longer accept. >> Thank you, Jane. Right. Any other green sheets in the audience? Okay. All right. Um we will now move into our tenative um budget public hearing. So, um, public comments for the FY26 tenative budget public hearing will also be conducted in accordance

030with policy manual section 2 col 230. Any pink sheets? [Music] No pink sheets. Okay, just one slide. Next slide. >> Thank you. >> So, evening, President. >> Um, okay. I move to adjourn the public hearing and reconvene in open session. >> Second. All right. All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Motion carries. >> All right. So now, do you want to go to specific or you want to go down to 7.1? >> Okay. All right. We're going to move to 7.1. Um, our FY26 budget. >> Now, you hearing? >> This is the [Music] set first. We have to ask for public hearing. >> Oh, I thought we just did. >> Yeah, that's what we just did. >> That's the pink to order. There were no pink. >> So, we still need to have a

031hearing. >> You need to call to order the public hearing. >> Goes after. Okay. Got it. Got it. Got it. Okay. Sorry. >> Okay. We're good. [Music] >> We're ready. Sorry. Okay. Um, next slide. Thank you. So, this is just a formality. Every year, uh, ISB requires there to be a hearing which opens up to public comments or input. Um, it is personally it's kind of an odd um uh order because later this evening we will present the final budget which is different than the tenative budget. But this budget has been on display, meaning that anybody could have come into the ESC. We published a notice and you could see all our numbers and all of our beautiful accounting work. And if you had any questions, this was a formal uh uh formal uh opportunity

032to u ask. Um I will just say since this is the moment, a tenative tenative budget is a provisional budget. It is not the certain budget. um as certain as we can get. Tonight we'll present the final budget and that is our best estimate as we'll talk about um and that from May to uh the end of August when we do finalize that final budget there's a lot of activity that goes on and um and that is all reflected in the final budget tonight. The tenative budget did have a pro a tenative uh deficit of 7 almost2 $2 million. Um our final budget tonight is a figure lower than that. We're very happy at least to have made um some financial progress in that in that realm. So um if there's no other questions about

033the tenative budget um that is all I was going to preset. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. So can we have a motion to adjourn the public hearing and reconvene in open session? >> I move to adjourn the public hearing and reconvene open session. >> Second discussion all >> Yeah. All right. Um, all in favor? >> I I All right. Motion carries. >> Thank you. Sorry, first time doing that. >> All right. Now we can move. Are you sure you don't want to move? [Music] All right. We'll move to let you go. Okay. All right. So, as I do every month, I uh share with the board and the community what the district has been up to since our last board of education meeting. Um so, our school visits, uh my school visits continue to happen

034and they're amazing. Wonderful things are happening um because of the staff and students that we have in our schools. It's been very exciting to visit schools. Uh and as Diana said, and you'll see in greater detail uh when they present again, budget reduction planning and presentation development has been underway. Um my second year of catch up with Hines is underway as well. My first meeting was with a group of Kobanians and they were a lively bunch. They um really are really looking to partner with district 15. They have volunteers and they're excited to help us, you know, with some of our initiatives. So, I'm very um thankful that they had me uh to their meeting at EMTs and I look forward to additional uh time in the community. Uh this year, we're putting a little

035different spin on catch up with Hinds. Instead of having people come to events that we set up, we're looking to go out into the community where there are existing events and clubs um that are already in progress, our meeting that will have me um on the agenda. We're providing an update and um also just taking a lot of questions from um these local organizations about what's happening in the district. Um last year, you recall, we wrote a Discover 15, so it was an inaugural magazine. Um this year, we're going to be putting together an annual report. It's under construction and it'll give the community an update in terms of what the district has been doing on an annual basis. And uh Mindy Renee and I had the pleasure last night of meeting the new early

036childhood director. We had a a a dinner meeting, very productive dinner meeting. We shared a lot of um exciting information about early childhood and what's been going on in the district and some of our visioning and dreams for early childhood, our three and four year olds uh moving into the future. So, we look forward to uh continuing partnership with the new directors. Um wanted to give some fall tryyout data because as you know, we've expanded some of our teams based on school size and feedback that we've received from the community. Uh thank you to Dr. McFon and uh Mrs. Powell or Mrs. Crawford rather for putting the triyout data together. So for the 2025 2026 fall sports tryyout window um we had uh a nice showing of boys interested in fall soccer. At Carl Sanford

037we had 57 folks try out young young men try out. Plum girls had 118 students try out. TJ had 68. Winston had 97 and Sunling had 54 students travel. A total of almost 400 athletes interested in soccer. That was pretty tremendous. Um and then in terms of girls in the fall sport in his basketball season for our female athletes, Carl Samber had 27 students try out. Plum roll had 62. TJ had 58. Winston had 34. Sling had 27. So just over 200 girls tried out for basketball. Um some of our schools were able to field as many teams as were available to them based on their school size. Some did not have enough to field the full um and enhanced sections that we provided or offered for this school year. So we're excited to see

038how the teams progress throughout fall season. Transportation. Um, as we always do, we're trying to keep the board and the community apprised of where we are in terms of drivers. And we honored a wonderful driver tonight. Um, who we hope never retires, but after 45 years, we hope she has many, many more. Uh, the first weeks are underway. We had a few bumps. So, we appreciate everyone's um patience and understanding as new students were on new routes, as new drivers were on new routes, and we dealt with a lot of construction and delays on 53, which continues to delay um especially Virginia Lake students um getting to school on time. But, uh we thank you again for your patience. The transportation department also deserves uh a major thank you because they received over 1,200 change

039requests for four routes and sometimes it was a request of just a few doors and we move the staff down a few doors but some of the other um requests were quite significant and took time. It's why we um are a little slow with paid transportation. We have to make sure that our routes are settled before we take on any additional uh riders. We also um be because of these changes, we we're managing capacity. So if if routes are changed, they're going on a different route, we have to make sure that there's room um for everybody that's within that geographic area that's eligible for transportation. And then we really um move through the process from there. So it it takes time. We usually have a twoe freeze um letting the bus drivers and kids and

040parents get used to the routes and the times and whatnot. Uh, but they have worked and I think they're down below 400. Is that correct, Tom? >> Actually, below 200. >> Below 200. So, well, they're they're really just uh cooking along, moving along. So, thank you again. Uh, as Tom said though, we're still short drivers. Our current driver numbers are 88. We have two in training and we really want to have around 110 total drivers to cover the routes fully without having to double up to um make sure that we have extra drivers for again those those that call in because that that continues to be you know something that we monitor and and makes transportation on time pickup and and drop off uh challenging. So, an update from the administrative services department. Um, supported

041a lot, spent a lot of time in transportation. Um, mentored training for new staff was uh something on the the the to-do list and finished up all goal setting meetings with principles and uh both Dr. Lazor and I have started principal observations and evaluations which are an exciting part of of both of our uh to-do lists. Business and operations has been busy finalizing the changes to FY26 budget. You'll hear about that tonight. Um there is our new auditors are on site completing the uh FY24 audit. They're wrapping up summer construction. Remember we did 11 million worth of work and they're processing invoices for that work. And they're rolling out electronic electronic time sheets at uh four schools. The communication department hired and onboarded our new assistant director, Emily, who is here taking pictures. She's in

042the back. Hi, Emily. Um, and they're launching students square. We have parent square available and we're working on some kinks with parents square both at the classroom level and for parents, but we hope to launch student square as a tool that teachers can use should they choose to do so. And we continue to update the parent handbook as well as the website for our 26 or 23 different websites, photos, updated content, you name it, they're they're trying to keep it um up to date. Uh, next up, educational services. They strengthen the behavior supports with full day training for more than 500 SP staff. That's one of our five teach one of our five unions. We've supported kindergart they've supported kindergarten adjustments with new expectation focused lessons. Uh, expanded free after school access through the Boys

043and Girls Clubs at the four sites in which we offer that support. And enhanced student advocacy with ALAP training. Um, that's our alternate learning program at eight schools. And the ALAP program helps us work on our attendance initiative for children who are are are reluctant or more inclined chronically absent. So they're they're a nice um resource for our staff and families. Uh in the human resource department, they're conducting a comprehensive review of enrollment to finalize the staffing allocations for the 2025 2020 school year. Um they're updating the evaluation data in our digital platform in preparation for the school year. and then they're finalizing 10-month employee salary data for our first payroll run. Additionally, human resources is really helping us look at staffing allocations as we move and start planning for the next school year, especially

044as it links to the budget. Uh the multilingual program achieved gold, which is the highest circle of quality in our three new PFA um bilingual early childhood classrooms following last year's ISBY monitoring visit. Year one, three classrooms. That is an unbelievable feat. So, congratulations. Uh, they sent parent notification letters regarding ESL and bilingual services to its eligible students. Uh, they're hosting a VCAP welcome back picnic as they always do. This one will be held on Saturday, September 20th at Winston from 10 to 1. All are welcome. And they're forming uh another cohort for reading specialists, ESL bilingual endorsement, as well as any teachers that are interested in beginning to seek their administrative endorsements. So, we're very excited about continuing our grow your own efforts um with our staff. Student services provided PD for ESL and

045bilingual resource teachers in supporting dually identified self-contained special education students. They completed special education regular and summerterm private facility claims with ISBY, which is no small feat. uh curriculum distribution and professional development uh planning continues making sure that our teachers have the resources they need and the training to know how to use them to their fullest and providing on-site support for new special education teachers uh teaching learning and assessment did a lot of work as did all members of cabinet uh with institute day focusing though if as a TLA group on learning for all groups uh staff fall benchmark assessments math and fastbridge are underway that's how we know how our students students are coming to us in terms of their readiness. Uh reading specialists and interventionists, they had a kickoff event to uh review

046decision-making rationale, refine curricular projects, organize and leave fall primary grade testing. Um they're also ensuring staff have their curricular resources. There are over a thousand certified staff members teaching multiple content areas. So, that is um that is a lot of moving parts, but we're making sure our teachers have what they need to educate our kids and they're supporting staff with new curricular resources and how to use them. Last but not least, technology. And I love this picture pieces. Um for the continued development of uh they're working on the continued development of power school, powers school teacher parent student portal for middle school students and working out operational processes to go along with our new CIS. That was a massive undertaking over a year's worth of work. Um, like anything new, there were some some hiccups,

047but that team is dedicated to really working out the kinks and and I think each day the system just gets better and more familiar um to everyone. They're working on the preparation for additional training and professional development support to teachers, administrators, and school staff around all things power schools. And they're planning for teacher and administrator PD in terms of our technology integration work. So that's just a high level overview of what we've been up to since our last board meeting. Any questions? Nope. Okay. For discussion andformational reports, uh we'll start with item 7.1, which is the FY26 final budget. [Music] Okay. Good evening, um, President Ader, members of the board, and Superintendent Dr. Hines. I'm Diana McCluskey, the chief school business official. This is Anthony Fishto, the director of fiscal services here. And tonight, we

048also have our esteemed friend uh Elizabeth Hennessy direct uh managing director, one of the managing directors at Raymond James. And she's going to talk to uh you um early in our presentation about some consequences due to the delay in Cook County tax bills. Tonight we're going to present our final bit uh budget again earlier this evening. We had a a short hearing on the tenative that goes to the budget in June I mean to the board in June as a preview of what the final may look like. Again over those last between May and the end of August there's a lot of activity that happens in the district. We finalize hiring. We um uh we hear a lot of confirmations over the summer of revenue streams. We especially this summer talks more about grant revenues

049that were very uh questionable. We um so again we incorporate all this information and then when we put the final budget together we make our best forecast of what it's going to fall in fall out like during the year. So again, you hear me say this every time, budgeting is our best estimate of the coming year's revenues and expenditures. And we tend to want to be conservative. We want to be conservative both in revenues and expenditures. Try to mit mitigate any major surprises as we go throughout the year. We make our best educated conservative guess. Uh we just want to reiterate again last fiscal year was a unique fiscal year in 25 because we had a lot of all the construction from just specifically for moving 15 forward wrapped up a year ago and uh

050we are now into the second year of four middle schools here. So again, last year Thomas Jefferson became five, lost my count. Uh Thomas Jefferson became the middle school and yes, and all four other junior highs uh became middle. So now we're into the second year of okay, this is the new the new norm, right? Um and again, full day kindergarten. We're in our second year of full day kindergarten. And again, those big three pillars that we wanted to achieve with all that uh construction, the repair and restore of our facilities, we did a lot and that is still ongoing and we updated learning spaces and we improved that stu those student transitions near neighborhood schools. So, um I think we're going to uh we go forward now into year two, but I just wanted

051to reiterate that last year um set the set the the budget the expenditures revenue streams in place for that. So now in year two we're uh we have those things settled. All right. So the next is slide here is about our revenue. So this budget is not in all the budgets I've presented here there are not as many major um major events that go went into this budget. the ones that I will mention are significant, but we didn't have any COVID, we didn't have any esser. We um we didn't have any major construction, you know. So, now we're kind of settling back into I would say the district is kind of getting settling back into a kind of normal reseting back to a normal. Well, the biggest news on the revenue front, and you may

052have heard this if you live, which you all do live in Palatine and you live in Cook County, is you haven't gotten your property tax bill yet. And so once again, Cook County Treasurers, assessor's office, etc. They're going through another software conversion and they just are struggling to get it accomplished. So the tax bills which property tax bills which are normally mailed out like in the mayor June June probably were usually due August 1st. So now we're into September and the bills still haven't been mailed out and I looked on the website today and they still have no conclusive information on when the bills are going out. So Liz and I and Anthony, we've talked we talked with our other colleagues and we'll turn the mic over to Liz in a second. I haven't heard

053anything unless you've heard anything. Um, and that is very difficult for school districts, municipalities who rely on the major portion of their income, our property taxes. Okay. Now, this is this they we did this three years ago. We had to take out t what they call tax anticipation warrants, short-term borrowing, because uh I believe three years ago the bills were due on December 1st. So our ca the cash flow we pay very close attention to our cash flow and we have to meet payroll we have to pay our vendors and um we rely on property taxes other revenue streams great but 80% or so of our taxes or our revenues are property taxes. So I'm going to turn it over to Liz right now um just to give you a little break up I mean

054update on what we're going to do. We we do need to do some tax anticipation warrants because again we it looks like we don't know when the bills are coming out. Thanks Diana. Yeah, the frustrating thing is we do not know when the county is going to release tax bills. We'll know when they they do, but uh they've been super careful about not letting any information out. So it makes it hard to plan. So Anthony put together a cash cash flow on the operating funds, the main being the education fund and we also looked at the bond and interest fund. The taxes don't come till December or January. What we're looking at borrowing is 20 million for the education fund and 5 million for the uh bonded interest fund. So altogether 25 million. Um we're

055going to various banks getting bids and quotes. We put a term sheet together that'll be out on the street tonight. On your agenda, you have uh two resolutions. One is authorizing 25 million of tax anticipation warrants. Again, 20 million for the ED fund, 5 million for the bond and interest fund because the transportation fund is got some pressure. We're also looking at a loan from the education fund to the transportation fund to uh bide you over for that. So those are your action items 10.6 and 10.7. So happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you. [Music] >> Just want to reiterate the frustration um of what this causes both from a this has financial implications on the expense side for us as a district because this revenue is late. And so just reinforcing the frustration

056that this is for um for the district. And I just want to also highlight one of the items you have up there, which is that the village of Palatine has paid its tiff money that it's giving back to uh the district to Cook County, but Cook County has not then transferred that money to the district. So that's I just noted up there in the How much is it that they're hanging on to? >> Well, they're hanging on to about 97. Well, no, probably I'll speak to 97. >> Okay. They've been holding on to some money too. So that doesn't help the situation. >> Any other questions or comments before the night? >> And then we forego interest income. >> I will say Cook County earns some interest income money. >> So okay. So there, like

057I said, there aren't a whole lot of highlights this year. So this should be can be hopefully a little brief. So again, just letting you know again the CPI has been trending down. Our um levy this December is going we have a 2.9 CPI. So we had 5% two years ago. And then just on a tiff. So what's happening with the tiff is in May, uh, the village communicated with me that they did send a check to Cook County for the rand road and the lake cook tiffs of 975,000. So that was in May and then early July they trans uh for they wrote a check whatever literally to Cook County and that was about a 1.4 4 million for the first distribution for the downtown test. >> So between 975 and 1.4 4 million.

058We're waiting on that and we did. So last year's actuals in FY25, we have very little tiff flow I mean surplus flow through from the village. We didn't rec recognize some in our last. So that's another thing that you know uh years uh you know financial results of school districts are affected. We can't and then and it's beyond the time of acrewing it back. So, so we'll have kind of a balloon amount, an over amount in 26 most likely of 3.8 million. So, I think that explains basically that uh Rand Road will roll off at so this levy 25 will not include Rand Road. Next year's levy 26, I believe that's when it comes back to us expires. So, we will see new property on the rand road. >> Next slide. And I'll got some

059more. I'll let that I'll turn that over to Anthony. >> Sure. Thank you. Um, EBF funding is a funding that we received from the state. It's kind of the state's grant, main grant that they gave to us. We did see a slight increase uh from this year 25 to 26 about half a million. We've got up to about $18.5 million. We are still in tier two at 80% adequacy. Um personal property replacement tax CPPRT that has been trending down for the last few fiscal years. There was a state calculation that they paid us. Um we found out about 2 years ago that the calculation was incorrect. So they were going to start withholding money from us. Um it wasn't just us. It's all municipalities and school districts same way. Um so fiscal year 24 we

060saw 3.3 million. The high that we saw was right after co about 2022 we were at about five 5.5 million. So it's come down significantly. Fiscal year 25 we were at about 2.2 million. And we do see a small little increase for fiscal year 26 up to about 2.5. So we're hoping it's flattened out and everything's corrected. Everything's caught up. um and hoping that we do see that about 2.5 million come through for fiscal year 26 grant and revenues um and we'll go through this board in detail uh when we see all the financial statements but they for fiscal year 25 to 26 there was a major delay in when we were going to receive the revenues um it took about like D mentioned earlier in the presentation in June when we presented the tenative

061we thought we were not going to be receiving half of the grant money we were going to get. That was coming down from higher up administration. As it turns out, we are receiving all but one of our grants that we received in 25. However, we're at approximately we're we're down a little bit about 10% which equates to about $1.2 million in total for all of our grant revenues, which we decrease the expenditure side. So dollar for dollar um decrease revenues decrease 67. Um hopefully those grants return in fiscal year 27 and beyond, but we'll take it one year at a time. Finally, the only transfer that we have for operating transfers is a $5 million transfer from operations fund 20 to fund 10, our education fund. >> Same as >> Yep. same as the next

062one. um so um >> sure so if if you recall last year's budget this year 25 we were having difficulty finding staff for a lot of related services sites OT's PT speech pathologist so we had contract out millions of dollars for contracted services fortunately during the year we were able to rework some of the contract the new contract um we are now able to fill most of those contracted positions with our own employees. So we increase salaries and benefits and we decrease the contracted services. Fortunately in our benefit um salaries and the salaries and benefits are not nearly as much as the contractor. So we're able to get more staff than we were on contract. So which is great. Uh we do still have some contracted services in the budget just for some less target

063positions. Uh in our final analysis after shoring up all the salaries and benefits over the summer, we uh know that we uh there has been a reduction of about 60 full-time equivalent positions. So that was helpful toward B uh reducing our deficit from last year. So um yes, there is realization of 60 less FTE. Sure. Next bullet mirrors what I said on the previous slide. The grant expenditures decreased um to mirror the granting the grant revenues. Uh we're not spending any more money than the grant re that we're receiving. This goes for federal and state that we're getting. and then um last few weeks. But I want us to emphasize though that when we start the budget process back in March, April, we start meeting in person with department heads, try to get to uh

064principles as much as we can, anybody who has a budget that they are in charge of throughout the district. And we have been uh Anthony especially and Pepe our assistant director we've been repeating that you know what zerobased budget means just come to us with what is essentially needed to accomplish your missions. So those budgets have been gradually been have been being reduced for the last couple years. So, um, a couple weeks ago, we saw that we had some some of the adjustments that we had to make over the summer that came clear to us. We needed to meet with everybody again and talk um in depth about their budgets and where we could realize some more savings. And we did. People came, all assistant superintendants, directors um, came to the table and we made

065some very hard choices. Um and all departments reduce their budgets between five and some over 15%. Um that we and also principal budgets have been uh their their what we call their um purchase services and supplies. They also took a hit of about 10% in those budgets. So overall, that really contributed to where we're going to where we're landing tonight, which we're glad to say at least is a deficit less than what was at the tenative. Just a few other highlights here. Um the transportation, Tom did a great job. He found 10 gently used buses um from another school district. We got a really good price on those. And five of them are special ed buses. And then the other big event we uh anticipating this year is the five electric buses are still expected

066to arrive. They're a little delayed, but we should have them on hand on hand ready to go in January. Uh I usually mention that uh in these presentations all had great accomplishments this past summer on our facilities. Again, these uh projects are paid out of fund 60, which is not an operating fund. We're still spending down, as Liz can attest, we're still spending down bond uh bond proceeds, and she makes sure we stay within those constraints of why what we told um how we sold those bonds, what we're required to do. So, I'm not going to go through every one of these, but um uh but big to note is the parking lots. Lots of schools, 12 schools. HBAC still much more to come, but two schools, CLA and C. Uh Central Road had some

067uh boiler work done. Lot really the playgrounds across the district are looking great. Really, I think we pretty much wrapped up playground partial playground improvements at this point. Um and then wood floors, you know, new gym floors. Um Jane Adams, Plump Grove has a new floor and and then Diaz wanted me to mention sanding and recoding. We don't do that every summer. So four schools got that big job with the 170 interactive flat panels between technology and custodians. Those were installed. Next slide. Um main offices are complete. You'll see every main office even pleasant health has some new furniture in the last couple of years. New lockers in wing A at GMS. Partial roof replacements at Virginia Lake and Willow Bend. Walk-off carpeting. Um CLA got some new LVT. Um and more multi-purpose room flooring.

068And um main gym floor at Lake Louise and classroom carpet at CLA. CLA is shining. We believe CLA is shining. >> CLA folks tonight. So well tested. >> Yeah. So again, those all that came out of form 60, which we'll show you now when we did get into these uh financial. So you want to pick this one? >> Sure. Um I believe everyone has yellow sheet. >> Uh we're kind of colored these so make it a little easier. This yellow sheet shows final revenues for the budget this year 26 on the top half and then expenditures on the bottom half. Um just quick, these charts are broken up. The top six lines are the operating funds. Those are the main um operating funds that we have. Uh bottom three are kind of our contracted debt

069service payments, capital projects which vary year and then life safety. We don't have much activity going on currently. So we kind of separate those out. Uh just keep those separate. So um in total you can see that the um operating funds revenues are going up from our audit un audited actual fiscal year 25 to our final budget for 26 about 4.9 million. Um in total all the funds revenues are decreasing about 8.3 million again that's because property capital projects bonds were not issuing any bonds in fiscal week 26. So that's what the big uh difference is there. But it is it to see given all the uncertainty regarding grants revenues, the timing of the property tax revenues, um some of the other revenues that we saw we were decreasing. It is very it's it's good

070to see that we are having a slight increase in our operating funds. Albeit they are mainly from property taxes from the levy that we have in the CPI. Um but it is still nice to see that there is still some surplus of re revenue coming through. >> Sure. >> Next slide. Uh operating budget. So on the flip side all everything that we spend you can see that our operating funds we are having an actual decrease of operating spending of about 1.5 million from our audited our unodudited actual for 25 into our final budget for 26. um to have a decrease in in expenditures especially nowadays is >> pretty crazy. It it it >> hard to do. >> It's hard to do and I give a lot of credit to as I mentioned the schools, the

071departments, superintendent, all everyone worked the last few weeks to try to get this budget down as much as possible to the bare minimum of where what is essential, what needs to be done and it came out to an actual decrease. So I give it up to all the departments and everyone that worked on it. In total it's all the funds are down about 20 29.7. Again, we're not doing nearly as many capital projects anymore. Um so just highle comparison of 4.9 million revenue increase and an operating decrease from year to year. Um and that's it's always in the positive direction. >> That is the green. >> Yes. Well, keep going. >> So, this this green sheet compares and if you have any questions, please help me along the way. This screenshet compares fiscal year 26

072revenues next to expenditures. And again, it's broken up in operating funds and all funds. We look at main operating funds. We are at a 6.4 deficit. It's never great to see deficit, but if you recall back to a few minutes ago, we made about a 7.2 a $2 million deficit uh at the tender budget. So, we did bring that down about 600,000. So, um a lot of hard work along the way. All funds deficit is 15.9. Um again, that's that's capital projects not not being needed anymore. So, it's it took a lot of work to get to this deficit is never good to see, but it is something that, you know, we it's moving in the positive direction. recall for school year 25 budget. It was that was significantly larger. So we are moving in

073the right direction. Um departments work on this this year 26. Next slide is the blue sheet. Um this is this is our fund balance sheet. We as superintendent Hind mentioned we are wrapping up our fiscal year 25 audit. Everything is going great. Uh so the left column is our unaudited fund balances for fiscal year 25. Middle column is those surplus deficits that we just saw on the period sheet and then second to left column is the or second from right column is the just 26 estimated fund balances. Um we are seeing that decrease because of surplus. The fund balance total is calculates out to 24%. Generally speaking, we like to see it at about 25%. Um, with all the cuts that we made, this is as close as we could get to the 25% without

074significantly impacting any of the schools more directly than any of the schools. So, um, it's it took a lot of work to get this far. Again, no one likes seeing a decrease. We never like seeing it a deficit, but it has come it has come a long way forward in the last few months and comparing it to last year. Any questions on any of those colored sheets budget? [Music] >> I don't have a question, but I have a comment. I I know we know collectively and Linda on the finance committee with you guys um that a lot of work has been put in by your team as well as the rest of staff to try to pull in and get the uh the deficit under control. We knew it was coming with moving 15 forward

075and now it's just a matter of getting her arms around it. But I um want to thank you for for doing all that hard work. It's a heavy lift, but we'll get there. >> Thank you. [Music] >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. There'll be a couple resolutions at the end to approve for that loan and for their >> moment the back row's been waiting for. >> All right. Item 7.2 and services overview of our restorative practices. I have to get I have to get my >> props ready for the cake. Congratulations. [Music] >> If I was Dr. Swan, I would have taken the opportunity. I'm not doing this. >> All right. Uh, President Hater, members of the board, Dr. kinds. Thank you. Uh so one of our core

076responsibilities is not only to teach students to read, write, whatnot, speak new languages, but also to uh take accountability for their actions. It's something that we started with tonight. But you know, part of uh our mission is to build a sense of collective responsibility for each other, but also a sense of personal responsibility for what we do with others. One of the key ways that we uh are looking to build that further is through a restorative practices initiative. Uh restorative practices is a strategic way of trying to build community understanding for each other but also a sense of personal accountability not only for yourself but for those around you. Uh we're really looking forward to this. This is a missing piece of our larger behavior support system which includes MTSS, PBIS, our discipline system. And

077now we're looking to add another tool that will enhance those items without replacing any of them. Uh tonight we have uh three components that we are hoping to walk you through. Uh a brief context component to build an understanding of what these are, how they're actually present in many functional businesses. You'll see these things as we talk about the seauite at a business and how they conduct their meetings and this the the structure of those etc. Right? Kind of like the way we have it here. We'll go through an experiential piece that we're going to invite you to participate in. And then we'll also be uh asking uh a few of our early adopter schools to uh come forward and talk about some of the things that they've been doing both schoolwide but especially in

078the classrooms. Uh some of those students have uh actually made things a a tool that is present in each of the schools is called a talking stick. It's a way of managing meetings. It's very similar to the gavvel that reads and just a different way of looking at it. But they've made these for each of you. Uh and uh in true inclusive uh mindset, we've made nine since there are nine people up front so that everybody gets one of these. I'm going to choose who gets which one. No, I won't. But but anyway, this really interesting. You guys will see. It's very interesting to see the different creativity that the students u put into it as they've each made one their own for you. Uh so the if we we have their remote Thank you.

079All right. Well, we'll go the old way. Next slide. Thank you. Oh, one more back. Sorry. Next one. So the uh four people up here with me of course are Dr. Swallen, who you know is one of our directors, the director of comprehensive mental health. You know me of course as Tom. We have Dr. Megan Meyer who is our trauma inform coordinator. And of course we have Dr. Nicole Gavin who's our director of brand >> and with that I stopped talking and turned over to the confident people to stick. >> Okay. >> Dr. Myer I think this is now >> we'll start by we have a little video um that is a brief introduction to what restorative practices is. So, we'll go ahead and start by watching that. >> Our world is changing at a

080breathtaking pace. Social patterns that have long characterized human life are changing dramatically around the globe, diminishing social bonds within families, schools, workplaces, and communities. But humans are hardwired to connect. Just as we need food, shelter, and clothing, we also need strong and meaningful relationships to thrive. With all this in mind, what is restorative practices? Restorative practices is an emerging social science that studies help strengthen relationships between individuals and within communities. When put into practice, the effects are profound. In schools, students experience greater safety and sense of belonging, resulting in improved behavior, less bullying, and less violence. In workplaces, leaders facilitate direct communication among staff and address conflict as it arises. The result is higher performance, greater accountability, and effective collaboration. In criminal justice, new options allow victims and offenders, friends and family to repair the

081emotional harm caused by crime. Throughout our neighborhoods, restorative practices give popular people more voice in the issues that matter most. In a nutshell, restorative practices is the science of relationships and community. Your individual daily interactions have a big impact on the world around you, at your job, with young people, and throughout your community. How we relate matters. This video was brought to you by the International Institute for Restorative Practices. To learn more, attend our flagship event, Basic Restorative Practices. enroll in a graduate course or all right so hopefully that um from the international institute of restored practices gives a nice overview of what it's about the best way to think about it is restored practices is kind of in two buckets the first and main one and the one we're really focusing a lot on

082is community building and a lot of prevention work so the idea is that we are um engaging in practices that help ensure that everybody in the community feels safe and welcome included and seen that they have a voice. Um, and there's ways to do that to promote that kind of culture and community in the building. Um, and that is the first piece. And then with within the the second piece is more when harm has been done within the community and a way to repair that harm. Um, so a lot of people think of it as a second thing that when something has happened and you have a way to bring people to to repair that, but really it starts with the community at the first prevention part. And um, that's been a lot of our

083focus. And this graphic kind of helps show what I'm talking about. So you can see it's like a triangle on its side that there's green and yellow to red. The green is the that preventative work that we're really focusing a lot on right now. Um, and this is where we kind of help with defining what we value. So, it goes beyond just expectations. We still have expectations, but it's what do we value as a community? What's important to us and what's shared and what does that mean? Um, how do we how is it that we talk to each other in a way that's respectful and caring and kind? Um, and then from there, if things start to happen, conf conflict starts to happen or or people um start to hurt or harm each other in

084some way, how do we come together to repair that? And that's when it starts to get towards that yellow to red and the red being the most intense kind of cases, right? Um, so, so that's one way to help think about it for today. And what we're really zeroing in on is that idea that everybody in the community is a part of the community and like together they really build this shared sense of trust, kindness or whatever it is that they define as their values. Um why part of the reason why we did this, you know, the video talked about the evidence base of it. Uh, but there's two two main sources of data that we've been monitoring for a while, which is our attendance data and then our office discipline referral data. And that's

085what you're seeing up here. And you're seeing it broken down broken down um by race and ethnicity on these particular graphs. But the notion is that we recognize that there's still work to be done in these two areas and restorative practices is one of the more effective ways that you can do this. Why? because you're creating a sense that every student feels pride in their school. They want to be there, you know, and as a result, they're less like they're more likely to come and then when they're there, they're they're likely to follow the values um that the school has has said that this is who we are, you know. So, like when when children feel that, they'll engage in those behaviors which would make both of these get better. One of the foundational pieces

086of restorative practices is to build more opportunities for staff and students to connect and build that sense of belonging and build that sense of um community within the schools, within their classrooms. And what we found and what we've learned is connection doesn't really happen on its own. And something that I really value about this work as a parent and educator is that a lot of our connection these days happens through technology or through phones. given us as adults. What this brings to our schools is the opportunity for people to connect face to face, interact, and how we do this within our schools. And we're going to we're going to show you how this works tonight is through the use of um circles within our schools. So, increasing the opportunities for students to connect and staff

087within our schools. We use circles to do that. Um circles can happen at any point during the school day. We're going to do this in a second. Um at any point in the school day, it can happen for a really quick circle. circle up to do a little activity, to do some academic lessons, circle up to do some connection and connection and community building. Um, and in order to really understand what we're talking about, it's important for us to experience it and feel it. So, we are inviting you as the board um to do a very brief um community circle with us um with our team today. Um just really brief. We're going to show you what we found and through training that we've all been through in terms of training is that you really

088do have to experience it to understand it, to feel it, and to believe in it. So, but once again, this is a very brief um very quick, nothing too um too hard um quick circle and whoever's, you know, willing and able, we invite you in to join us in the circle and we'll model for you what it kind of feels like. It's a quick snippet of what we're trying to do in our schools. So, we invite you into the middle. Come on, Frank. Okay. That's a good [Applause] Part of the circle is to be in a physical circle with no furniture in between. Um, a lot of the times we're sitting or students are sitting on the on the ground or in chairs, but for the sake of today chairs around, we're standing. You can

089also stand. Um, and we do have a talking piece and I'm going to introduce it first. But we welcome you into the circle. We thank you for being brave and open to experiencing this with us tonight. Um, I'm going to first go through the circle agreement. I'm going to facilitate the circle. We welcome you to this space and I'm going to briefly go over Thank you. briefly go over the agreements. Um these are circle agreements that we build with every circle. Students and staff do have voice into these agreements. These are just standard ones that we're going to go over tonight. Um we always have them visually for you as well. They're also on the slide for those watching. Um but circle agreements are to respect the talking piece. So in circles we use a

090talking piece. Doesn't have to look like this. We have many different types of talking pieces. Um but talking pieces um whoever has the talking piece, talking stick is one talking. So it gives voice to everyone in the circle. It does get passed around so everyone has that opportunity to share. So we respect that talking piece. One person talks at a time. We speak from the heart and listen from the heart. No judge judgments made to be open to be respectful of different opinions and voices. Trust that you will know what to say. There's always an option to pass. So we always provide that option. If the talking piece comes to you and you don't want to share, you can pass it to the next person. You always have that option to pass. Say just enough.

091Every voice matters. So every voice in the circle is valued and every voice matters. So say just enough that your voice is heard, but we give everyone the chance to talk. And then what is said in circle stays in circle. So confidentiality, which we go over with students. Um whatever said in circle, we want to stay keep here. It's a safe place to share, to talk, to connect with each other. However, if there's a safety concern or something comes up that I need to tell someone, we will then have to do that if there's any safety issues. So, we go through that with students as well. And then we offer the opportunity. Does anyone have an agreement or something they want to add to tonight's circle? Any agreement you can think of? No. Okay. If

092you can agree to those things tonight for brief circle, if you could give me a thumbs circle, kind of just showing you agree you understand. All right. Okay. So, we'll open up the circle. I'm going to start with a a round. So, what a round is is I'm going to just pose a question. We'll pass around. Everyone has a chance to share. So, we welcome you to the circle. Um, for the first round, just your name, your role. I know we have some new people who may not know each other very well. Your name, your role in district 15, and your favorite morning drink. What's your favorite morning drink to get you going? So, you take a minute to think. >> Morning drink. Morning drink. We did that >> weekend. Even more. Good question. Okay,

093I'll open it up. I'll start. So, Megan Meyer, trauma for coordinator. Um, and my favorite morning drink is yogi tea, sweet um for sweet tangerine, it's an energy tea this way. >> All right. Hi, my name is Laura Swallin. I'm director for comprehensive mental health and green tea is my drink in the morning. >> I'm Frank Anarino. I'm the board vice president and my favorite morning drink would be uh I guess orange juice. I'm Clara Nef. I'm Lori executive assistant on the board recording secretary and my favorite drink for the morning is black coffee. [Music] >> I'm Eric Bachmann, the newest board member and my favorite morning drink is coffee with oat milk. >> I'm Zubar Khan. I am a board member. My favorite morning drink, Pete's brand coffee, medium roast. very specific reason. >>

094That's my role. [Music] >> I am Tom Edgar. I'm an assistant superintendent and my uh favorite drink, although I never get it, is actually Turkish coffee. >> My name is Wenda Hut, board member. My favorite drink is um it's calamatsi juice. It's a um it's a lemon that you can find in the Philippines and it's a smaller tastes a little different. Tastes a little be better than lemon pow lemonade. >> I'm Jim Taylor. I'm board secretary and my favorite morning drink is coffee with vanilla creamer usually. >> I'm Sam Ader, board president. My favorite morning drink is a double espresso with steamed milk and a little bit of pumpkin spice. >> I know. I'm so faithful. I'm Nicole Morois. I am the assistant director of grants. Um, and my favorite drink is more cream than

095coffee. >> We're We're a good match. Lisa Beth Shupai, board member. My favorite morning drink is coffee with just enough cream to make it cool enough to drink and not burn your tongue. >> Hi, I'm Lori Hines. I'm the superintendent. My favorite drink uh that became my favorite drink during CO and continues is coffee with sugar-free vanilla creamer. Nice. >> All right. Thank you. We're going to do another round. I just learned that we have a lot of coffee drinkers in this circle. Um and also something we introduce to students too often and we didn't do this is if you agree with something or drinks true for you, you can do this as a sign. Just letting you know. We're going to do one more round. So this round is just to share one hope

096or dream you have for this school year. So, we're starting off the school year, September, new, you know, new year. What's one hope or dream you have for district 15 or for yourself for this school year? I'll start again. So, one hope I have, and this is sounds, you know, probably a little cliche, but I really hope and look forward to um really moving forward some of these practices in our school. So, I really hope that we push it forward um this coming year. I would say hope is that every every child feels excited to go to school and learn something fun and creative this year. >> My uh my hope would be uh that uh we can get our academic achievement up where we got 70 at least 70% at adequacy there. >> My

097hope that is that all the board meetings can go perfectly great. Uh my hope and dream is that every student and staff member in the district feels connected and realizes that they're important to the overall. >> My hope is is that the opportunity gaps and things like that within the schools start continuing to to narrow as we go through this year. My hope is that uh every student, staff member and parent feels that they are both successful and they belong. >> My hope is that every student, staff member comes to school this year feeling safe and ready to learn. >> Although I already said I agree, I think it's worth repeating that I want every student to be excited and feel like they had a good time at school and that they belong here. My

098hope for the school year is that every student sparks a curiosity and determination to shape the world around them. >> My hope is that every student feels student and staff member feels seen and that I can help support um this work moving forward this year. My hope is that every student feels successful in what they're achieving and um and feels good about coming to school, enjoys being there and um achieves their own level of success all at different levels. But if we can close that achievement gap and uh also close the gaps and opportunities while doing it, it will be solid. I uh agree with Lisa. I hope that every student um has access to everything that they need to be uh fully engaged and successful and growth um as a result of their time

099spent in school. >> Thank you. Thank you for sharing lots of yeah really ambitious hopes and positive hopes. So thanks for sharing a lot in common that I just saw. So I'm going to close out the circle with a quote and this quote is when we choose hope anything is possible. So even though some of our hopes, you know, we carry that carry those hopes with us through the year and any of it is possible. So thank you for participating in the circle. Told you it was brief, but thank you. We're going to close out the circle um so you can find your way back to your seat. >> Thank you. >> Hopefully that gave you just a little taste. So we thank you for being brave and joining us. That one more than just

100>> hopefully that gave you a little taste. So, thank you. Take a minute to get seated. Thank you. Hopefully gave you a little taste of what a circle can feel like. I mean, I know from my perspective I feel a little bit more connected to each of you. Um, a little bit more comfortable, you know, speaking with you and and just that we're all at that same, you know, level. We have a lot of the same a lot of things in common we saw just through that one really great circle. So that is the whole purpose of those circles is to build that sense of community, connection and belonging. And really what we've learned is circles really are everywhere. So from sports huddles to campfires to wedding dances to, you know, schools, circles really are

101all around us. It's a really natural way to connect. And so one thing we um aim to do with restorative practices is just increase these opportunities for students and staff to connect in circles throughout our schools um and build that um connection and that really that sense of belonging through the use of circles and increasing those use of circles in our schools. They really are all around us and like a powerful way to connect. Um, a quick story I'll share and I know we're going to hear stories from some of our schools that are using these is I was doing helping run a circle in one of our buildings a year or two ago when we've been starting to pilot this work and it was um with a group of fifth grade girls and there

102was a lot of drama and some social things going on and um we were trying to help repair some of what's been going on and one student said when the talking stick came to her this was a big group she goes I've been wanting to say this for two years and she said it and she was able to share so it gave her that voice. So that's something that I think is so important is that every student has a voice in the circle. So so thank you for participating and experiencing it. Um it is just one piece of restorative practices though and Dr. Swan explained this in the video. Circles is just a changing in the way we gather and helping students build that connection, that sense of belonging. Um there also is a lot

103to do with um changing the way that we the language we use with students. um using effective language, establishing values in our schools that you're going to hear from some of our schools doing some of this work. It's um very focused on relationship building those values, bringing it's bringing the behavior back to the value instead of down to the rule or up to the value instead of down to the rule. So, it's changing how we look at um behaviors and how we are connecting that to values. What I really love about it is it's helping students learn about how their behavior impacts others. students don't learn this on their own unless we are teaching them how their behavior and how their choices are impacting others. So that's another big piece that's important and it's addressing

104that um those behaviors that do happen. It's addressing not just those that have caused the behavior but those that are impacted. So it it really helps support um and repair harm and prevent conflict. And that's really the overall um theme is that when we really focus on this this preventative side, we are preventing harm and preventing conflict from happening in our school. Now we're going to invite So this is the exciting part and we're going to hear from two of our um wonderful schools who are piloting and leading some of us in this work. They're going to share some of their experiences and stories. So we welcome CLA um able and reach program um the upstairs at CLA that we call it to down here as well as PADOK and um some of our teachers

105as well as their principles are here to talk with me. So thank you to them for being here and for meeting this work. Can we help grab some chairs? Those of you that are seated chairs, thank you so much. President Ader, uh, Dr. Hines, members of the board, thanks for having us. The floors do look great. >> Great. Fantastic. But what we're really excited about is restorative practices, and that's kind of why we're here today. Um, one of the reasons that it's it's so important at CLA and the things that we're really looking forward to um is is it's create help us create a sense of value. So, I'm joined here by um Alyssa Zilchick, uh who Zilkich, sorry, I always say that wrong. Uh our counselor extraordininaire, Kathy Rustman, one of our researchers. And

106in the back, we have Christy Low and Tracy Roble who are all an integral part of establishing restorative practices at CLA. It started last year. um with some values work. We we took a look uh we talked to the staff and incorporated student voice and what do we wanted the values at CLA uh to be and we came up with uh compassion, connection and perseverance uh which we think really kind of exemplifies the skills and and the life skills that we're trying to upon our students. um restorative practices is the fa is is the f is the framework for all that we're trying to do and we've incorporated into pretty much every aspect uh of the building. Uh and the goal is to really like uh Dr. Myers was saying is to really establish those

107connections and those relationships. Uh we live in a world right now where kids are are more interested what's going on on their screens than they are what's going on uh in the desk next to them. We're trying to establish a community, an environment where students feel welcome, feel they feel safe, they feel uh that it's okay to be vulnerable with their classmates and and really kind of get to know each other on that personal level because that's how you you build that community and that culture. Um we we've noticed so far um is that it's already working. It's already building a stronger connection between staff and staff, between staff and students, between students is there. Um, it's really making an an impact on the day-to-day at CLA. Um, it's a it's a self uh it's

108a safe welcoming environment where if something does pop up, if there is some sort of conflict cuz it's going to happen, um, the students know that we have a process and a place that we go to to kind of talk through it. Um, and we're really seeing some cool things and and we're doing it not just um, it's not one of those things we're expecting the kids to just do it. We're doing it as a staff. So, um, all of our staff meetings, all of our, uh, program meetings are all done in circle. There's no tables blocking the way. It's everybody in the circle just like you guys just did with an intentional opening and a wonderful chant at the end. Um, Christie wants us to to might not share that with you. We did

109we do personalize uh all of our our gathering agreements. So, you know, uh, Able and Reach are two different programs. Um so we have our reach gathering agreements and we have our able gathering agreements. One has a more visual aspect so we can uh be more inclusive to the needs of all the students uh in the school in the program. We have um talking sticks all over the place. We have portable talking sticks. We um we try to incorporate all of restoative practices in into our entire day today and we're really seeing some cool stuff. But enough from me. You want to hear from the people who are ground floor getting it done? >> Yeah. Um, my name is Kathy Rusman and I have an uh intermediate reach classroom that is second and third graders

110this year. And um, the circles have been um, I mean we we're early into the school year and because everybody is involved, the staff is involved. Whenever we have a circle, we're all in we're all in in that circle. And the students here, staff being vulnerable, talking about when they've made a mistake or talking about when something has happened to them. And just today, I had a student say, "I never thought about it that way." You know, and and so they get to hear it from adults, but then they hear it between themselves. And we have used portable talking pieces when we've had disagreements at lunch, disagreements at recess. Um just yesterday um something happened just as they were transitioning from our classroom down to um a special and um a program assistant came back

111as a student and said we need to repair and restore before we go into music. And they sat and they talked and he and where this could have escalated in other times where it could have escalated into something bigger, it's it's not. and the kids are all in and because it's something that has a structure like this that they know what's coming every time they um are are ready to join in um for all of it. So, it's really really encouraging. >> Thank you. Um Alyssa Delm, the counselor on the reach on the reach side of our programs. I've had the pleasure and the opportunity to be trained in the foundational and the advanced uh portion of restorative practices. It's been very inspirational seeing it unfold after being trained. Um I have the pleasure to

112be in all the classrooms. So I have participated in multiple classroom circles um invited by teachers or I just kind of pop in and and check out what's going on um in the classrooms uh throughout the day. Um one way that we do build community um as a program reach um has our own gathering on Fridays where all of our classrooms come in for a big circle um at the beginning of the day on Friday. um as well. Um the ABLE side also does one of those um to build that bigger community as a program. And we also have what we call Friday celebration circles where we bring preach and able together and we have a big circle at the end of the day to close out the week with our celebrations and things that

113have gone well um throughout the school week. Um one thing that I will say from the mental health perspective is it's such a natural opportunity for our kids to work on those social emotional skills. you know, the the taking turns and talking, you know, waiting for your turn. Just those natural things that just come from being in a circle and using a tool to mitigate some of those things. I promised some of our staff. I was going to share some stories. Um we've we've been in school for three weeks and we've had a student that has passed every time, you know, during their morning and afternoon circles and this week was the first week that he shared and the teacher was so excited and so proud that he came out and he he shared this

114milestone with everybody and just seeing that excitement from him was just tremendous. Um the portable talking pieces came in. One of our PAs was at lunch and the the students at her table were having a hard time holding a conversation. They were talking over each other and you know, frustrations were starting to rise up cuz you know, nobody was listening to anybody. So, she took a napkin and turned it into a talking piece and helped mitigate that conversation and it was so successful. The kids had a great time and it was such a perfect way for them to connect, feel heard, and it eliminated a stressful situation for them. So, I promised her I was going to share that, but she was very excited. So, hence we went and we got ourselves some portable talking

115things. Um, but as we're growing, like we said for in the beginning of of implementing this, I think our students are going to grow significantly in some of those social skills, emotional regulation, and conflict resolution. And I'm happy to be one of the school that's piloting this for our district. >> Thank you both. I I we wanted to show you some pictures of circles in action. So, uh, the big one up top, that's that, uh, B program, um, celebration circle. We have a circle room where we have all our meetings. We're hoping to get to the point where, um, in the near future where our IEP meetings are even, uh, done in circle to include the parents and, uh, there's a big parent community component to this at well as well, but we're really at

116the at the forefront in the at the building level, building community there uh, first. But, uh, the kids are doing it and they're loving it and it's really a cool thing. So, thanks for having us. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] >> Hi everybody. >> We are We are Paddock over here. I'm Jason Chris. I'm the principal of Paddock with Nicole Gavin uh and Sonia Nilson. They're two of our uh fifth grade ATG teachers completely talented and gifted teachers. Um and so we uh kind of replicating a lot of what's been said tonight. um have been working on restorative practices at Paddock for the last half year or so. Um we started at the end of the last year with values and in with a you know a bigger school and a bigger program and whatnot.

117We really broke it down to one of the core principles of restorative practices and that is establishing what our school values. So, we spent two staff meetings and um we went through what each individual staff member values and they went through this own little activity um that they go through and break down a hundred different words into just their top three and they discuss that with each other similar how you guys did in a circle um and kind of understood what each other are feeling a little bit more. Then the next staff meeting we came together and we did that for the school and we looked and we said okay now we know what we value as individuals. What do we value as as Paddock School? What is something that the three words that would

118best represent what we want everyone at our school, every one of our students and staff to to feel? And what we came up with was community, kindness, and growth as our three values uh for Paddock. And while the values are very important and and it's something that we're going to keep developing, we we have a very strong PBIS system at Paddock School. Positive behavior intervention supports, we call them the three Bs. be respectful, responsible, and be safe, which every school in our district has some version of that. Um, and one of the points that we I made with the staff very early on, we talked about it and and again, I institute days and over and over again as we talk about this is PBIS is not something that is going away. PBIS and values

119and and restorative practices and all the pieces of it run parallel together. They they they really are, as I think Tom said earlier, it's a missing piece that we don't have currently in our building. uh you know preventative and and just uh the internal aspect which I'll talk about in just a little bit that that PBIS doesn't necessarily hit right PBIS has a lot of expectations be respectful how are you respectful you use kind words right hands and feet to self be safe hands and feet to self is kind of a directive you know we call it an expectation but it's like hands feet don't hit sorry uh um and that's great that we need to have directives don't deep frank uh no you know it's like don't don't don't do certain things we all

120have those expectations but why we have kids that are we have little kids in our school right kindergarten to fifth grade preschool fifth grade of paddock we need to teach that why we need to teach that internal motivation that internal piece where PBS hits the external expectations restorative practices and values that internal motivation and that's that's a skill that's something that we as adults sometimes need to learn right that's something that we designed or we did are designed, excuse me, are determined to teach our students what we do every day, not just math, not just reading, right? And that's where restorative practices really comes in. Um, certainly at Paddock School and hopefully for the entire district as we move along. Uh, it works right alongside PBIS and the expectations that are in place and embedded

121and and all the reward systems that we have in place. That doesn't go away. This runs along parallel with it. and the values which are on our shirts and are going to be on our walls and we're going to have posters about them and all that kind of stuff. Um, you know that that's that's only one small piece of restorative practices. That's that's the beginning drip. And when you get to there, when you get that piece down strong, then we can really focus on the next piece is the community building, right? The community building that we talked about earlier, the the social emotional circles similar to what you guys experience. Now you're going to start developing this common language, this common understanding of, you know, no, I I I I did not keep my hands

122and feet to self. Okay. Well, was that kind? Was that did that hit our value of kindness? Well, no, it wasn't. Well, now you start to get a feeling, right? Did that really enhance our community? Did that help our our community grow? And it's these different words that have a different impact on students and adults when you start to use them effectively. And that's that's where we're going with Paddock as the year goes on. Um, spoiler alert. Uh that's where we're going with this is our professional development growth. How do we increase our community at Paddock using these aspects of restorative um restorative practices? So um you know it's an additional tool uh to teach expected behavior. It really focus on that intrinsic motivation um to adhere to the expectations that we already have put

123into place. Uh you know we're going to use them in different areas. Certainly right now they're being used in different classroom activities. um some of our academically accounted and gifted teachers and actually had an extra year of experience with this prior to last year. Um we used them in different community circles and um and just again that schoolwide messaging as we as we kind of grow into this um initiative and we will let Miss Gavin and Miss talk about that. >> Um so jumping in kind of where Mr. Chris left off was um the ATG program um more than two years ago now. Um Dr. Edgar and Dr. Meyer came to us with um the idea of this community circles and um specifically with the intention to address this uh social emotional needs of our

124particular group of students. Um there's lots of anxiety, um perfectionism, a lot of um high emotions, um just different things. Asynchronous development, you have a third grader who can understand high school level things but is still a third grader. Um so a lot of specific things for our particular program and they came um with the idea of these community circles to make as part of our program. Um and they worked with us what we're seeing what our needs were. They worked with um Laura Belchenko who is amazing all things gifted. Amazing. Um and we came up with actual like prompts those rounds. We came up with topics um specific to our students. Um we don't do them all the time. They're not always super intense. Sometimes it's what did you do over the weekend or

125the more light-hearted fun ones. Um, but it really helps to start facilitating those conversations. Um, and that's kind of where we started with this community circles. >> I'm going to present just like a little bit of a backstory. When Dr. Dr. Meer presented this to us like 2 years ago. Um we're at a gifted meeting department meeting and she was talking about circles and I'm thinking okay okay I'm a 58-year-old woman who is a daughter of German immigrants. So circles is not in my wheelhouse. We we might not have like kumbaya moments with my family at all. So I'm like I was kind of skeptical really circles like okay I'm a rule follower though and so I'm like okay I'll do it I'll do it and um to be honest it was a little clunky

126at the beginning cuz the kids didn't know what we were doing I was certainly a novice still rather novice lifeike um no by no means an expert but um it was a little clunky teachers are really good at like putting on a face like we know what we're doing we went for it anyway you know um And probably that first year I didn't honestly I didn't stick with it as much as I should have. It wasn't like a once a week thing. I got a little more comfortable. But the key was all of us in the department were doing it at least a little bit. So kids kind of knew about it. So last year when we got together at Padock and I got the next group of kids who had at least heard of

127circles before and probably they had done it a little bit more. um they were excited and then throughout the year you can see the excitement grow. Oo circles we're doing circles today or the disappointment like we had a uh an assembly or something and oh we have to push it back to the afternoon. What you know like they really look forward to it. Um it does build relationships and community and kids looking at each other and taking turns and listening to others um and agreeing that is huge. Um, and the way we've been doing it. So, so last year it was great. Felt much more comfortable. Um, kids are looking forward to it. This year, now that we have done it for like a year and a halfish, really, they're leading away. I'm like, how

128should we close the, you know, how should we close the circle? And somebody's like, oh, let's do the wave. Okay, we do the wave. You know, like they they know, they know the parts and they can contribute. Another contribution that they do is we don't really have talking sticks. We call them talking pieces. And I start, you know, I start the year with mine and then I'm like, if you'd like to bring something of from home on your own for us to use, they bring it, they talk about it. It's a little like a show and tell sort of, but you know, it's something that's more important to them. You your the point of it is it should have some sort of value to you and to others. Um, and then you also, other people

129had talked about it, you can just use, it doesn't always have to be a big classroom circle. You could have something called little C's, little circles where they have like a little team that they kind of like a home team, you know, okay, go with your home team and you could have small circles which intensifies the relationships a little bit more. Even [Music] >> they're still a picture. >> That's okay. >> No, it's okay. It's okay. Um, just one more thing building off of that. Uh, talking about, uh, Miss Nelson kind of alluded to it a little bit, but having that sense of community, especially last year coming to Paddock, we had students coming from all over the school district. Um, and we we were new, like it was a big adventure for everybody. Um

130but having especially established a little bit of the circles before that um and then having the students be able to come together and share vulnerabilities. Um, in one of my earlier circles last year, we were talking about something about I don't even remember the prompt, but something about coming together at Paddock. And um a student shared just vulnerability that they with the program maybe didn't feel good enough, didn't feel like they belonged there, were really afraid to leave all of their friends and leave their community in their fifth grade year. Like I was a fifth grade teacher and come to Paddock um to kind of start this one-year journey and then go off to middle school. Um, and so the fact that they were sharing that was huge, but also like kind of the collective

131relief um, of everybody else in that circle. we got a lot of these and then from then on they were building off of that and just the power of having that common humanity um of I'm not alone and it really really helped solidify our community I think and continuing on to where we hope to go in the future um that was classroom community grade level community program community but then also being part of the bigger paddock community and we have these values now and we have um just I think it only can get better from here and just continue to grow with that >> and starting as a skeptic and me in my last year of teaching I'm retiring this year um coming to a board meeting to talk about it at 9:00 at night

132you know it's got to mean something got to be big >> I probably didn't leave with the 9:00 [Applause] >> 9:00 told her 8:00 at the You should have asked me cuz I have an over under within like 10 to 15 minutes like almost every time. >> But that community is huge, you know, coming together and just, you know, one one piece last piece of that like when you're when you have a community, when you have that feeling, you don't do bad things to people that you like, right? And that's the whole beauty of it. You build that climate culture. You build that community. And then hopefully that really sets that level for um, you know, behavior and expectations. Just a couple pictures we got going on there, a few circles and um our shirt

133uh community growth and kindness. And that is all we have. Thank you so much for your time, guys. >> You're wonderful. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] >> I told you we get better with I stop talking, right? >> Thanks again for coming and staying. How do you know we don't have questions for you? [Applause] She doesn't have a talking stick. She has seated Kane. >> All right. Maybe before. What questions do you have? >> Oh, okay. I really love this um this process. I love restorative practices. It's my mantra to talk about community. I believe we can solve the world's problems by that. Um, so I'm just um curious like how challenging is this in terms of costs, in terms of um professional development? How are we going to lift all the other schools because

134we only at um the pilot um point, but how are we going to get the buy in to um all the other um I don't know, German uh teachers want to do it, you know, not that we're profiling. >> I I can I can speak to that. Our last slide actually here uh covers partly what you're asking uh but uh we have a larger professional development plan. Uh the real difficulty for the lift is certainly something we can accomplish but it's pretty intensive training. So we're looking at for the middle schools this year dedicating both of our institute days that remain. So two full days so that all teachers at that level have the training that these teachers have actually had or were uh in preparation to begin using that this year. All right. and

135into next. The other part is I think there are always going to be many staff like >> really if you if you think about it like you know when when you look at like the circle we were talking like you know how is the board going to right how's the board going to to take the circle I know such a hard time sorry he's he's writt I'm German and Italian >> the the hard part about, you know, this what we're actually talking about, you know, uh, with the circle is that it seems so insignificant and maybe even a little bit hokey when you do it that one time, right? You know, you're asking people what their favorite morning drink is. You know, you're asking them, you know, about something that they hope for. It it

136seems fairly insignificant, but those things stack up regularly where people become vulnerable and people become friends through that, right? So uh the the purpose though is for us to get through that initial feeling of this isn't something necessarily powerful. And the way you do that is not only be by providing them with a training that gives them two pieces the theory and the pieces of information about what it is but time to actually experience it in the training themselves. And then beyond that having a set of of expectations. We have a day coming up where all of our administrators all of our administrators have been through the training thus far. So, uh, everyone from from cabinet to, you know, coordinators have gone through the training and then we have another day in October where we're

137doing strategic work with them to plan what it actually will look like in year one for their school after the training. So, they have goals they can work with their staff on. The other part is, you know, this is enough of a push to get it going. Just like Miss Neielsson said, you know, sometimes you need just to get it going and see the excitement that we've heard about from the students and how it begins to benefit them in the class for those who might be looking at it with kind of a you know a weary eye to really become fully involved. We're very confident that uh we will have a a vast majority of teachers who are really ready and and looking forward to doing these things. And I really think those teachers there

138always will be some in in any group there will be some who feel maybe this isn't the right match for them or maybe this isn't something they're sure of. Once they see this and they see their colleagues and they hear from their colleagues around the successes that is really something that we believe will spur all of us to action plus uh Miss Marose not Kevin and and Dr. Meyer uh they are they've gone through the the various levels of of restorative practices training. so they can be trainers themselves. So we're also building a capacity within the district to have continuous coaching beyond just external professional development people helping us during our institute days. So we've really planned for not only the training but the ongoing support to our administrators and the teachers as they run

139into the barriers that we know they're going to that they have a partner now that they can rely on to get them past that. So um for Paddock and CL CLA um what how are you defining success? Um how are you um gathering the data so that you could say to to um you know you know another school and say you know J& hey this is this is what we did this is how this is what you're going to try to benchmark. Um, so what what are we going to see data wise? Um, you know, because it's not just subjective, right? It's not just, you know, we're all happy here in um in in Paddock. You know, what what can we tangibly hold on to? >> We are happy here at Panak. >> You know,

140there there's a couple different answers to that question. And so, uh, starting starting with some of our behavior referrals and, um, the different, you know, kind of quantifiable, you know, tangible, like you're saying, u, majors and minors and whatnot, you know, if if the restorative practices that we're rolling out, the way we're rolling it out, like I was sort of alluding to earlier, you don't do mean things to people that you like, that are people part of your community, when you, you know, when you feel kindness on, you know, part of what we do, those behaviors are going to reduce. similar to the the triangle side cyber triangle Dr. Swallen showed, you know, that green behavior. There's that little like h how's it going over to the yellow? How's it going back to the green?

141This is going to enhance that behavior where small reminders, small ideas, these concepts are going to reduce any of that that more extreme behavior. It will still exist of course, right? This will not work with every student in any school, but it's going to enhance that. So, we're going to see a reduction of that. We also have as part of an attend our attendance initiative, we're going to see students coming to school. Right? We track our attendance quantifiably every month. Take a look, see who's at at school, how many kids. Um, I've been absent more than a few days. And if we can really start layering this in, and again, the values that I was talking about myself, there's a lot more to that, right? And if we can start layering in some of those

142restorative circles, those those different pieces into those students in particular ones that we identify that might be in the yellow, do we see a a positive increase in their behavior and their attendance in that kind of piece there? We're also actually I'm currently working with a couple of my staff members and developing exactly what you were just describing like a do you feel happy survey and and just trying to work in like how how does this going to lay out? not sure if we're getting where we want to go with it, but how do you get the feel of students, right? And staff for that matter and then do it now and do it at the end of the year and just kind of see are are we are we still feeling happy? You know,

143that's that's kind of the more, you know, kumbaya piece of it, but um but there's certainly quantifiable aspects as well. >> Yeah, just to just to piggyback, you know, therapeutic program, you take data with that everything. So, um, last year our crisis our crisis minutes were were high and, um, that's what we're really kind of hoping that we're going to see quantifiably is we're going to see a reduction in crisis minutes, reduction of crisis events. Um, we are keeping track of, we're asking the teachers to keep track of how often they're running circles in the class. Beginning of the year, the expectations was we want you to do one at the beginning of the day and one at the end of the day because we wanted to slow roll this thing because it is different.

144It is a change. Uh we were fortunate enough to get a group of heavy, you know, uh heavy-haired teachers and some of our reluctant skeptics together this summer to put in some of the foundational work and build out the plan and get them involved early. And I think that's that's going to be the key to to some of the success. But we want them to um keep track of of how many they're doing. Are they doing peace circles? Are they doing restorative circles, celebration circles? Um and we're hoping to see a reduction in both our crisis minutes. Um, and you know, uh, restraints of timeouts as the year goes on. That's the ultimate goal because as you know, Jason said, you don't do you don't do mean things to kids that you like, people that

145you like. Um, one of our check-ins that we have going on with the staff is a pulse check. Uh, we're going to we're going to test their pulse on restorative practices a couple times throughout the year. Um, what that basically is is how are things going? How are you feeling supportive wise? Is there anything else that we can do uh to provide you more support in these areas? is there or anything that the kids uh it's going to be an ongoing process and and what I really like about it is that um it it does open the door for conversation with it so we can have those tough conversations with each other um and and make sure that we're rolling this thing out the right way. >> Thank you so much. I have more questions

146at the end, but I'll wait for you to finish. Just one more thing that we wanted to um bring to your attention is the timeline for professional learning that you had mentioned is in November and March as Dr. Hood had said u Megan and I have gone through train of the trainer um training with um Ally Hearn who is a national speaker and trainer in restorative practices and so we've done both the foundational training the two-day training um and then advanced training and then also training trainers. And so we're because we're in-house now, we're able to provide that training to more staff. Um and so we're going to do that training with select staff members um in November and March. So we're going to have uh groups of teachers um from each school come and

147do. So those are just suggestions of people who might come and kind of really give us that bang for our buck. As also mentioned, we did do two-day training. It was intensive training with Ally on day one and then Megan and I live day two with our administrators. So we're definitely walking walk and talking the talk. um we're not just um bringing this out into the teachers and the schools and we're actually doing this ourselves. Um so we did have administrators um do that training and then D3 she'll also return to kind of talk about sort of leading into the school year next year what that would look like. So we have our pilot schools who've done an amazing job but how do we bring that to more schools? So she's going to talk about

148how implementation looks on day three in October with us. social feedback to help us kind of what that looks like at each of our schools in their unique situations. >> I I really think this is a good time for questions. >> Yeah. >> So, teacher, do you have any other questions? >> You know, yeah, agenda. Um just a general question. um this part of um what we heard I want to say maybe four years ago or five years ago was the culturally responsive learning and I thought that was just as great. It actually parallels this and and and that you have a coaching staff and you have constantly constant training but I just I don't feel like after we implemented that program it um took off. I don't know what ever happened. and it seemed

149to dissipate and it felt it felt like um just like this does um that we were building community um and and communities within our school. So, I just I I'm just hoping and um and asking that it not be a fad and not just go away um because we keep trying to start off a new um project we're saying um in order to um to to help um address social emotional learning um within our students. But so I'm asking you guys, how do we ensure that it that it doesn't um fall uh by the wayside as I see social emotional or as um has >> I think it comes back down to having a multi-year plan, >> right? Where you have, you know, action steps in each one. So this year is our beginning with

150the middle schools. Next year we'll be talking about how to better incorporate elementary schools due to quality and also the big part is we're spending time not only preparing everyone as a foundation right which is which is different in the past we did the cohort model like we did with uh PBIS where we had cohorts of teachers agree to become leaders and they went through training with CLR and whatnot working much more universal this time. So we have part of that where we have these uh you know self- selected people who have shown interest and are going to be leaders and have examples for people but we're also going to the masses with this right and then the other part is so we have this year for middle schools we have next year for parts

151of the elementary and then possibly the followup year for for the remainder along with internal coaching staff. So that that's probably the best way. Uh and this woman in the pink here doesn't like fads either and I can guarantee you that she won't let this rest. >> Yes. So sorry, but Jason, if you could pass the mic to Sonia and then to Renee about CL. >> Um, yes, I hear what you're saying. I will suggest that this is a whole lot easier than previous >> CLR because with CLR we had a book and there's all these different activities and it's a lot of work to know how to do all of those different little activities. That's like a whole another curriculum practically in my opinion. This is just me. just me. This is simple. This

152is straightforward. Once you learn the simple mechanics of the classroom level, it's it. And then you just carry on. There's nothing new to learn. There's no another little technique. There's no little those you put them in the newsletter every week. But, you know, you have to you have to go look up what is this procedure? Oh, this is how I have to do it. You know, it's too much. If that makes sense. This is so much easier from a teacher point of view. I >> I appreciate and I I just wanted to know where where we landed. >> Yeah, I will say that we and Rene, you can piggyback on this. We do have over a hundred teachers still in the cadre. This was the first year that we haven't had CLR coaches um dedicated.

153So Kim and uh Angel are back in in the classroom and really it is supposed to be at this point kind of embedded. But when we launched Champs three years ago, we did a multi-year plan with Champs. 12 national trainers came out. Um there's still two or three areas of focus each year that are embedded then within our individual um school improvement plans. You're setting a reading or a math goal. You're setting a um behavior or attendance goal. opportunities to engage. There were all different, you know, um, targets that we wanted our teachers to the ability to respond, the 3 to one, negative to positive, all the all the different things. So, we continue to have that on the front burner. I've talked with Tom about this. PBIS has just been in the district since

154I was here the first time, since the late '9s, and it is really um, fairly well institutionalized, and we just need to get to that level. And I think drilling it into each of the schools and making the schools really the drivers of the work versus external people all the time having to be waited to be asked to come into a classroom to help somebody do CLR or another activity versus there's buy in there's ownership. It's happening at the classroom level. That's the magic that I think is going to make it really stick. >> Yeah. I also don't think it's CLR is lost. I I think you know when you have to step back and look at a a staff and how people morph over time and how their skill set morphs over time, it

155is not often you get a program like PBIS that lasts forever and ever and ever because at some point people get bored of it or they it stops being interesting, exciting, it stops being as functionally relevant for students. So things change, but you're foundationally building that skill set. So we we have the benefit of a staff that has longevity. People come to D15 and most of them stay and they stay a long time. So they've received the training. They have the sensitivity. They know the general concept. They may not be utilizing the CLR by the book skill set, but that doesn't change the fact that you've got those skills. I think I appreciate the insight. Thank you so much for presenting. I love that we get to hear directly from the the staff that are

156actually implementing it because that's the only way we're going to, you know, that's the only way my questions are going to end. You know, I I need to hear from you. Um I just wanted to say a quick as an aside there's obviously the benefit of the immediate you know school community but when we think about where AI is headed and how our world is being transformed before us like these soft skills these interactions of how you engage human to human are going to be the most in high demand skills. So I just also think from a buyin perspective like this is not just about the culture of our schools. This is also like skill development preparing our kids for the future. So I'm grateful that we're doing that >> now. >> Thank you so

157much. >> I think she was uh one one last thing. So, uh, Miss Gavin's >> Oh, I'm sorry. Rene wanted to say something. You guys don't, >> but Renee wanted to say something about CL. So, Jason talking. >> I just wanted to affirm that our culturally and linguistically responsive practices do continue um, in our classrooms. They are embedded in so many of our practices. We've worked across departments to implement them into our SEAL lessons. We do have a cadre, as Dr. Heides mentioned of over 100 teachers that are committed to being leaders of this work in their building and it does align so nicely with our restorative practices because it gets into more of the deeper discussion about the why why do people behave the way they do why are do people hold certain opinions

158and it really helps us understand one each other as a community. So, I just wanted to reassure the board that those efforts do continue on. We do continue with book studies and leadership in the building. So, thank you. [Music] >> Well said. Uh, so, uh, Miss Gavin's class made these talking sticks, one for each of you up there. the same question. >> All we all we ask is that if it wouldn't be too much, we'd like to get a picture maybe with you guys having these talking sticks so we could just show it to the children. >> No, no. I just think of Emily. Emily, >> could you get a picture of the board with the >> This is awesome. >> Years ago, uh before Dr. Hines when we had the department of instruction and

159whatnot, uh there were I was in it as director and there was three of us. We were having a real disagreement. We were talking over each other and so uh I pulled out a pen and said no one can talk if you don't have it. Right? It's the you know the talking stick. About 3 days later everybody was sick with the flu. >> So the lesson learned is if you use a talking stick also use hand san. [Music] >> Love it. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. We we'll share it with the students. They'll really appreciate it [Music] >> in the corner. Perfect. [Music] >> Thank you. [Music] mine. >> Thank you. I accidentally put it. >> I got it. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Great job. >> So, I

160think we are now on item 8.1, acceptance of minutes. May I have a motion, please? I move to approve the minutes from the August 13, 2025 regular board of education and close session meeting as attended. >> Second. >> Right. Discussion. All right. All in favor? >> I. All right. Motion carries. Board committee reports. >> Uh 9.1 Ed Frank. >> Grab my stuff here. Okay. So, uh, the veto session is the next, uh, session for the legislature. That's going to be happening, uh, mid October, uh, to the end of October. Um, one of the items I think will come up will be with regards to the, uh, Bears property taxes since they've uh, just recently uh, on the on the 8th of September here put out the open letter saying that they are going to be

161building the stadium in Arlington Heights. So, I would say it's it's pretty much a done deal at this point that the Bears are moving to Arlington Heights. Um, so with that, they're going to be looking for um either a mega project fill uh passed by the legislature or a uh uh what was the thing they called it? >> In lie of taxes. Pilot payment in lie of taxes. Yes, that's what they want. Pilot >> and then uh so we'll see what happens. Um, one of the things that's being actually uh pushed to see if we can get through in the fall would be uh legislation with regards to the FOYAS, Freedom of Information uh act requests that are being sent to uh bodies through AI and that that happens to our district. We get a

162lot of AI requests that then bog down the uh the system. So hopefully we can get that passed through legislature where they can limit the AI and only have it respond to real people. Um and then uh ERAD is having its uh yearly kickoff meeting on the 20th where we're going to hopefully uh talk about the I would say the goals for next year for legislative goals. some of the stuff uh that we're I mean I was actually kind of asking them to do would be um tiff reforms uh you know having taxing bodies have some representation in the tiff process uh since we get impacted by it whereas right now we really don't have a lot of input. It's mostly all just through the villages or the cities that where the tips are. Um

163another one would be uh funding for mandated categoricals. So school schools get districts get funding for things that are actually mandated by the legislature. Um and then one of the other things is uh staffing and recruitment and retention of staff uh through legislation that would make it easier for teachers to uh move into the state, let their credentials transfer, things like that. And then uh also one of the things would be uh what we talked about, you know, here today would be uh property tax delays. Is there any way we can have some accountability for property tax delays? So, we'll see what comes out of it, but uh hope is every year when we start new. That's about it. >> Okay. Good. >> Great. Thank you, Frank. Uh5 Foundation, Eric. Uh yeah, I talked with

164uh Adriana. We had the first meeting back the day after our last board meeting on the 14th. Uh they stated their goals for this upcoming year uh and wanted to reemphasize that any info about the organization is now uh link in with the district website which is very exciting. Uh but they talked about their teacher miniig grants which uh she wanted me to let everyone know that are open until early November. Uh they also have their 50/50 raffle raffle and staff tributes which are happening later in the year. Uh and October Fest is coming up next weekend. So they're working with the Rotary now to see if they need uh some more volunteers. That's the 19th to the 21st in Time Square. Uh they also have a candy crawl at Falcon Park uh that they're

165waiting on more info. We should know a little bit more about that uh at their next meeting which is next Thursday the 18th. September 18th. Okay. All right, thank you. Finance committee, Wenda and Lisa, >> I think we can all contribute to the finance committee meeting um this month because we all um had the pleasure of having Diana talk to us about the um FY6 budget. So um thank you so much. But um you guys have heard everything that um that we all talked about. Uh thank you for the staff for um looking at the budget and saying um we are going to talk about that and we are going to um work to um come to um a common uh consideration for the for the district. So thank you so much. Um we're still

166um going to work on the the budget. It you know the work doesn't stop. >> I would add to that that we're pretty close to where it's going to stop for fiscal year 26. But you're absolutely right. we need to bring that number way down for fiscal year 27. That planning is happening now if it's going to be related to staff reductions like we've had in the past. We want to have all of those decisions made um well in advance and really January would be our target in terms of letting anybody know those plans. >> All right. equity committees and and Jim >> Jim and I met with uh Renee our rans chief to talk about the the new uh uh equity continuum uh uh tools that are connected to the Illinois report card put

167out by the Illinois State Board of Education. this very comprehensive uh uh look into the equity um you know kind of performances by all the districts uh throughout the state. It's very comprehensive pretty impressive stuff you know that it's getting that that type of attention. We've looked at how our schools we we had the data from 2023. That was the latest data we had from them and see how our data is and uh you know we see that we've done you know we've we've made a lot of progress and they have different categories on the state level. But what was interesting to me also is just how some of the the data on the state level does kind of correspond to some of the things we had talked about on our strategic plan and the

168equity components of that and how you know which which of our categories connect with the state categories and that was helpful with Rene explaining that I think we're doing a better job in elevating educators in terms of equity a little less so on the student learning but but getting better as time goes on. Um but so it was good to see the progress being made and how everything is really being uh uh kept track of now uh much more than it ever was you know 10 years ago. Yeah. >> And just to highlight that um our district presented also right in the normal opportunity to present this this information to this um the presentation is was like Zuber said pretty really pretty really impressive uh information and you know it and It's right there in

169front of you, right? I mean, it really highlights everything, all the work that's that's been done, all the growth that we've made and and really just what what needs to be done. It was really really a great presentation and really just highlights everything that all the work that still needs to happen, but also um all the work that has been done. It's been really quite amazing. So, like kudos to to you guys for congratulations on a great presentation. It really went really well. Being asked to speak, you know, on behalf of ISBY, being being tapped by Isby to share our work is an honor once, but then they did it again. So, I think, you know, they're going to put Renee on a circuit. >> Yeah. >> Because um the story we have to tell

170is a good one. It's something to be very proud of. >> Congratulations. >> All right, moving on to action items. Item 10.1. May I have a motion, please? I move to approve the personnel report recommendations for administration certified and non-certified staff members as presented. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> Roll call. >> Taylor. >> Hi. >> Shupai. >> Hi. >> Khan. >> Hi. >> Bachmann. >> Hi. >> Hunt. >> Hi. >> Her >> I. >> Henorino. >> Hi. >> All right. Motion carries. Item 10.2. Uh, press. I move to approve the second reading of press 118 part two as presented. >> Second. All right. Discussion. >> Do you want to highlight anything about these? [Music] >> No, we'll have the we'll put the policy in. I was waiting I decided to wait until all the villages

171had their language and then I was going to align ours. >> Okay. That way. >> Awesome. Just want to make sure that question. >> All right. Roll call. Shupai. >> Hi, >> Khan. >> Hi, >> Bagman. >> Hi, >> Han. >> Hi, >> Bader. >> Hi, >> Henino. >> Hi, >> Taylor. >> Hi. >> All right. Motion carries. Item 10.3. >> I move to approve the 2024 to 2025 administrator and teacher salary and benefits report as presented. >> Second. Uh, discussion. [Music] All right. Roll call. >> K. >> I. >> Pacman. >> Hi. >> Hunt. >> Hi. >> Her. >> I. >> Anerino. >> I. >> Taylor. >> Hi. >> Shupai. >> I. >> All right. Item 10.4. May I have a motion, please? >> Move to approve the amendment to the 2025 to 2026

172chief communications officer employment contract as presented. >> Second. >> Discussion. >> Roll call. >> Bachman. >> I. >> Hunt. >> I. Ader >> I. >> Honorino. >> Hi >> Taylor. >> I >> Shupai. >> I >> Ken. >> Hi. >> All right. Motion carries. Item 10.5 uh FY26 budget. >> I move to approve the adoption of the fiscal year 2026 budget as presented. >> Second. >> All right. Discussion. just reiterating the appreciation um to all the different team members who played a huge role um and had to make some really hard choices. So, thank you for the collaboration. >> Thank you. Absolutely. >> All right, roll call. >> Hunt. >> I >> Anorino >> I >> Taylor >> I >> Shupai >> I >> Khan >> I >> Pacman >> I >> All right, motion

173carries. Item 10.6 This one you have to read all over the title. 10.6 is the approval of the resolution. >> Oh, you have to read the whole >> for this one. Okay. >> All right. Item 10.6, Six, approval of resolution authorizing the issuance of not to exceed 25 million uh taxable tax anticipation awards in anticipation of the collection of taxes uh levied for the year 2024 by the board of education of the district for educational and bond and interest purposes and authorizing the sale of said warrants to the purchaser thereof. May I have a motion, please? I move to approve the resolution authorizing the issuance of not to exceed 25 million taxable tax anticipation or in anticipation of the collection of taxes levy for the year 2024 by the board of education of the district

174for educational and bond and interest purposes and authorizing the sale of said warrants to the purchaser thereof as presented. >> Second. >> All right. Discussion. I was just going to uh just reiterate just for the non-budget-minded people in the community that this the reason that we're doing this is not a budget error or anything on the district's part. This is that the county just has not paid us. Simply stated that this isn't we're waiting on money and we have to do this in the meantime. Is that a fair simplified statement to why we're borrowing money? >> Mail those tax bills. Uh-huh. The the county has not sent out the tax bill, so they have not paid us. This is not something that we did or didn't do. >> Yes. >> Thank you. All right. And

175any other further discussion? All right. Roll call. >> Ader. >> I. >> Honorino. >> I. >> Taylor. >> I. >> Shupai. >> Hi. >> Khan. >> Hi. >> Backman. >> Hi. >> Hunt. >> I. >> All right. Motion carries. Item 10.7. Approval of resolution loaning funds. >> I move to approve the resolution loading funds from the district's educational fund to the district's transportation fund as presented. >> Second. >> All right. Discussion. Okay. Roll call. >> Herino. >> Hi. >> Taylor. >> Hi. >> Shupai. >> Hi. >> H. >> I. >> Pacman. >> Hi. >> Hund. >> I. >> Adah. >> I. All right. Um, item 11, consent calendar. Would anyone like to remove anything from the consent calendar? >> No. All right. May I have a motion, please? >> I move to approve the consent

176calendar items as presented. >> Second. Discussion. >> No discussion. All right. Roll call. >> Taylor. >> Hi. >> Shupai. >> Hi. >> Khan. >> Hi. >> Pacman. >> Hi. >> Hunt. >> Hi. >> Gator. >> Hi. >> Herino. >> Hi. All right, correspondence. As usual, we've received a number of photos that keep Jamie quite busy. Any questions on what's been submitted? >> No. Great. >> All right. Uh, may I have a motion to adjourn, please? >> I move to adjourn. >> Second. >> All right. All in favor? I >> I