March 2026 BOE Regular Meeting

001please. Ader? Here. I already know. >> Here. >> Taylor? >> Here. >> Shubai? >> Here. >> Khan? >> He's here. >> Oh. >> He is here. He's not in the room at the moment. >> Oh, bathroom. >> Fatima? >> Here. >> Hunt? >> Here. >> Oh, yeah. Okay. All right. So, Vera will be here back in just a moment. Uh all right. So, the mission statement of District 15, by leveraging strengths and providing high-quality support, we will honor our diverse learners in reaching their full potential. Okay. Welcome everyone. Hope everyone fared all right during the storms. Uh it's been a hectic couple of days. Um I also just want to say thank you. We've received uh thoughtful feedback from the um Pleasant Hill families regarding leadership transitions. Um this you know, and I anticipate that

002we may hear some more feedback this evening. Please know that the board welcomes your input and we are here to listen. Ultimately, personnel decisions are made by our superintendent and her team. Um but please know that your engagement and feedback is deeply valued. Okay. All right. Thank you. We will proceed with our pledge of allegiance from Whitley. >> All right. We're just going to go All right. Good evening, President Ader, Superintendent Hines, and members of the Board of Education. Thank you for the honor and opportunity to begin the board meeting this evening. My name is Teresa Drogus and I am the principal of Frank C. Whiteley School. Alongside me this evening, I have Sun Ashin, assistant principal, Andy Teeman, fifth grade teacher, Grace Nesevaco, also fifth grade teacher, and our amazing, wonderful Wildcat Crew. The

003Wildcat Crew is comprised of fifth grade students. These students are selected through an application process and teacher recommendations. Our Wildcat Crew members live by our mission of dream, strive, believe, be extraordinary. The Wildcat Crew helps with various jobs and leadership opportunities throughout the school year and requires commitments of responsibility, hard work, and of course, a little bit of fun. This year, the Wildcat Crew helped with kindergarten through fourth grade lunches, which believe me is a very busy time, created PBIS station rotation videos, fostered turn taking and good sportsmanship with our younger grades at recess, promoted our Thanksgiving food drive with commercials in a partnership with our PTA, managed the PAW Store, and helped with whole school celebrations and assemblies. Our Wildcat Crew is an integral part of our school community and they lead by example

004every day. At this time, we ask that you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance 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. >> Thank you. >> Nice job. Don't leave yet. >> Yeah, they sure do. And they helped out there. recess today. It's not it. Yeah. Any family want to come up and take a picture? Keep smiling, everybody. Amazing. THANK YOU SO MUCH. OKAY, UP NEXT WE have our student recognition Special Olympics Bluejays Winter Games qualifiers. Everybody has cool swag. All the shirts. I know. Good evening, President Ader, Dr. Hines, members of the Board of Education and community. This evening, it is my honor to introduce three of our Special

005Olympics athletes and their coaches. My name is Dr. Mindy Landauer and I'm the Assistant Superintendent for student and related services and a Special Olympics athletic director. District 15 is a proud partner with Special Olympics Illinois, and we currently offer four sports for our athletes: snowshoeing, soccer team, soccer skills, and athletics, also known as track and field. Athletes practice for a minimum of 5 weeks and are evaluated and scored based on standards set for skills and times by Special Olympics Illinois. Based on their performance profile, our athletes then compete in a regional competition, where if they place in the top three for their class, they advance to the state games. For snowshoeing regionals were held in January on a very cold and very muddy Saturday at Hoffman Estates High School. On that day, District 15 had

006three athletes who qualified at the regionals for the statewide winter games, which were held in Galena on February 10th, 11th, and 12th. Accompanied by head coach Gary Simonian and coaches Jeff Donato and Cindy Rosenbloom, three student athletes represented District 15 in snowshoeing events. Our athletes placed as follows in their respective snowshoeing races. Maggie W, second place silver medal, 50-m race with a time of 16.93. CONGRATULATIONS, MAGGIE. JIMMY L, FOURTH PLACE 100-m race with a time OF 33.33. AND GARRICK N, fifth place in the 100-m race with a time OF 49.88. >> WOO! NOW THINK ABOUT IT. HERE WE GO. HERE WE GO. >> I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK JIM HERMETET, Melissa Sauden, and Verna Newman for their efforts and support of our athletes, coaches, and families. Congratulations to our athletes on their spectacular performance

007at the STATE WINTER GAMES. AMAZING. WOO! CONGRATULATIONS. ALL RIGHT. OUR next student recognition is our fifth grade two ball winners. I know it looks awesome. Thank you. >> Hey. >> I've seen that guy on the end before. >> Um good evening President Ader, Superintendent Hines, and the Steam Board of Education. Um I'm thrilled to be here with our fabulous winners from the District 15 annual fifth grade two ball basketball competition that took place last month, February 9th, at Falcon Park Community Center. We had students competing in both large and small school divisions based on enrollment. And in the event, teams of two students alternate shots from spots around the court during timed rounds, earning points based on distance and skill. Students work hard before this day even happens. They are training uh with their coaches

008at their schools, and we're lucky that we have two of them here. Um but we have kids every year that look forward to doing this. It is such a great uh community tradition, and we're thrilled to keep it going. Um it's just an exciting time. Families look forward. Kids, it's a rite of passage as you leave our elementary schools uh before you get over to our middle schools. So, I want to thank our partnership with the Palatine Park District for hosting. I want to thank all of the coaches and supervisors who have been part of this event and supporting this long-standing tradition. And without further ado, I want to congratulate all of the participants and our winners here tonight. So, I'm going to introduce our winners that are here, and they're going to step forward,

009give a little wave, as not to totally embarrass them. Um but just only mildly, cuz it's an exciting time. All right, so for our boys small school team, we have Henry and Blake FROM PLEASANT HILL. AND OUR GIRLS small school winners are Sarah and Sadie from Pleasant HILL AS WELL. AND FIRST OFF, I WANT TO give a shout-out to Coach Smart for his excellent skills in coaching these students, but also in addition to I'd be remiss not to tell you that Sadie and Henry are also our fall cross country champions in fifth grade. So, our middle schools take note of all of these students. Um so, congratulations to Pleasant Hill and Coach Smart. Uh next, our girls large school is Halie and Lana from Paddock. And you may want to give an extra shout-out to

010them. They set a new district-wide record with 98 points, breaking the previous record of 81. So, shout-out to HALIE AND LANA. OUR BOYS LARGE SCHOOL WINNERS are Matthew and William also from Paddock School with Coach Smonian. Thank you, guys. This is awesome. Congratulations to all of our basketball players. Let's give them a ROUND OF APPLAUSE. WE'RE GOING TO TAKE A COUPLE PICTURES, BUT THEN if parents if you'd like to come up and take any pictures, this is a great All right, keep those smiles big. >> Way to go, Paddock. >> Congratulations. >> Wow. Wow. >> All right, our next uh student recognition music contest and festival recognition. Good evening, President Eder, Dr. Hines, members of the board, and District 15 community. My name is Megan Price, and I'm an assistant director of teaching, learning, and

011assessment. Um and I'm here tonight to celebrate actually a few different things. You'll notice I don't have students with me. We had so many students participate in all of our music contests this year that they wouldn't fit in this room. Um which like genuinely hundreds of them participated, which is amazing. We are so incredibly proud of them, and I also get to celebrate a bunch of our teachers tonight. So, it's you know, the best part of my job to be here with you to do that. Um our instrumental music program now next year will have over 2,100 students in it. That's almost 50% of our student population that is participating in this program. We're incredibly proud of that. Um and in addition to regular concerts that our students get to participate in, we also have

012contests and festivals that they participate in. So, we have the ILMEA and IGSMA competitions and contests that they're able to be a part of voluntarily. And as I said, we had over 200 students who participated in those two events over the last several months. We had several students with perfect scores. We had several students join for the very first time. We had students that crossed between band and orchestra to do ensembles together. We are so proud of them from perfect scores all the way through that collaboration and growth that those experiences provide to them. Um we also had students audition and participate in the ILMEA festival. That's a really big process for them and a big commitment for all of our teachers. So, I would be remiss if I didn't also thank all of the

013teachers that we have that really spend a lot of time, energy, and effort in making these events happen just from the participation standpoint and the hours it takes them off and on evenings and weekends to do this. Um but actually, we end up actually every other year so hosting a lot of these events ourselves within District 15. So, we had thousands of musicians from all over the region come to um this building actually a few weeks ago with the help of uh Mr. Jeff Zilkie, Ms. Alexis Burke, and Ms. Ann Olsen as well as all of our WRS staff that helped support that event. So, we're so incredibly proud of our students. We're so grateful to our staff that helped them with that whole process. Um we love participating in all these different events and

014supporting our musicians. Thank you. >> THANK YOU SO MUCH. AND CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF OUR MUSICIANS. >> Who is doing the next one here? >> Yeah, I'm going to stay right here. All right. Um we will I also have the great privilege of honoring these special people in front of you. Um I have to say like I have my nice formal notes, but speaking from the heart, this group of people, this entire department is just magic. So all of our kids that are in these programs, they are incredibly lucky to have these people standing in front of you and the rest of that department. Um even like some of them here to celebrate their colleagues just because they're here tonight with all of the evening concerts that they have. This group of people came together

015from across buildings, across positions to help support a concert for someone who was um dealing with a family event. And they came and they were just going to skate on by and just do this whole thing where they come and they help support this event without any knowledge or recognition from anybody. And someone happened to send me some photos of that because they're so humble and so kind to one another that they were going to do that without any expectation for anything else. And I just couldn't let that go. I think it's, you know, in this day and age right now with everything everyone has on their plate to step up and come an additional night and to put an additional effort and to support one another and support our students to make sure that

016they get the event that they need. To take the time to recognize each other and support each other is what we're all here for. That's the heart of this job, the heart of being an educator. And I I'm so grateful to work with them and that they're here in front of you. So I I like I'm the one getting the award right now, even though I'm not. Um I think I want to make sure that we honor each and every one of them, and then all of the rest of the department that does this, you know, night after night, day after day, supporting each other just silently without anybody even realizing. Um I want to let them know about their award, which they are going to receive from me, and then I'll give names. So,

017I'm going to call you one at a time. They even have their little ones here with them. Like, that's how dedicated they are. That their little cuties are here. Our future musicians are here. Um but I want to let you know where they're from and and um what they teach. If I get it wrong, please tell me. And then we're going to make them take a picture, even though you know it's everyone's favorite part. I'm going to start with Emily Frazier. Emily's at six schools. Yeah. Home School of Lincoln. PJ Mitchell is a band teacher AT PLUM GROVE. ELIAS METROPOULOS IS You are comp music. YES. AT CS. DAVE WILKIE, HOW MANY SCHOOLS ARE YOU AT, DAVE? Five schools. Dave Wilkie is at five schools. He's mainly at TJ, is that Home School? Okay. TJ,

018um and Dave is A BAND TEACHER. COLLEEN MARTINEZ IS ORCHESTRA AT CS. JULIE CURCA IS BAND AT CS. ALEX CAMPEN IS AND ACTUALLY A substitute teacher who was really stepped up and came and helped support us. We wanted to include him in THIS AS WELL. EMILY CHENG IS A WORLD LANGUAGE TEACHER AT CS. AND Erica Johansen, who you know is the principal at CS, she wasn't able to be here with us tonight, but I want to make sure I honor her as well. Please give them a big round of applause AND HEARTFELT THANKS. >> MINE IS TWO. >> THAT'S FINE WITH ME, TOO. >> MHM. >> TWO ROWS IN front of the screen. Two rows in front of the screen. >> It's cool. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. DID ANY DID anybody else want

019to come up and grab a picture? Oh, no, they're all All right, sorry. In the hall. >> Did they get Did they get the merch? Did they get the No. >> Oh, sorry. The students. All right. Uh we will now open our meeting for public comment. Public comment is governed by board policy 2:230. Please remember that this is not a dialogue between you and the board. If you have a specific issue that requires a response, Superintendent Hines or a designee will follow 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

020to any person, student, or staff member respecting the right to privacy. This is not the forum to comment on personnel issues. Finally, the board expects and appreciates mutual respect, civility, and orderly conduct throughout the meeting. Right. So, our first sheet should be interesting. JJ the Blue Jay, Willow the Eagle, AND AHMAD THE GIBSON. AHMAD, I THINK YOU NEED TO BE IN COSTUME to do this, too. Uh-huh. You can see what his costume is. The narrator. >> Yeah. >> Uh-huh. >> All right. I don't think I'm going to Are you going to Oh, okay. You're supposed to be standing. ALL RIGHT. >> YOUR TAILS WON'T FIT TO SIT, so we're going to have them stand. >> All right. Good evening, President Nader, members of the board, and Superintendent Hynes. I'm Ahmad Gibson, the proud Chief Communications

021Officer for District 15, and tonight I brought a little help with me to share a quick invitation with our community. So, joining me are two very special guests from District 15, JJ the Blue Jay FROM MARION JORDAN, AND WILLOW the Eagle FROM WILLOW BEND. UM AS YOU CAN SEE, UM THESE two clearly came prepared tonight. Um JJ, is that an invitation that you're holding? Can Can Can I take a look at that? All right. See what you have here. Okay. Hmm, interesting. This looks like an invitation to a celebration. So, this must be the District 15 80th Anniversary Gala that I keep hearing about. It's hosted by D15 and our NWSC PTA. It's kind of the talk of the town right now. And by judging what you two brought tonight, it looks like there's going

022to be quite an evening. JJ, is that a dress catalog? Okay. Oh, all right. And Willow, I see the bow tie. So clearly this is a pretty big deal. But tell me, what exactly is going to be happening at this gala? Thank you. All right. So, there'll be some live entertainment and dancing, a s- a silent auction, student artwork, a photo booth, a whiskey and wine pull, passed appetizers, dinner, dessert, and an open bar. That is quite the lineup. So, tickets must be like $200 if you're doing all of that, right? Wait, what? They're only $80? For all of that? I thought deals like that only happen on Black Friday. So, can you tell me when all of this is happening? Ah, okay. Friday, April 10th. And can you remind me where this is taking

023place? Oh, nice. The Cotillion Banquets, right here in Palos Heights. I love that place. Um, but hold on a second. This all sounds like a lot of fun and a lot of fundraising, but you're doing all of this just for a birthday party for the district? I thought galas usually supported a cause. Ah, feed 15. Um, now I do know that in District 15, one in every three students experience food insecurity. That's nearly 4,000 of our students, which is about 35% of the children we serve. For many of these students, the breakfast and lunch they receive at school are the most reliable meals that they receive during the week. And when the school day ends or the weekend begins, that stability can disappear. So, if I'm understanding this correctly, Fee 15 and this gala will

024help address that challenge for the students in our community? Thanks. Amazing. So, this gala is raising funds to support the Fee 15 initiative, and Fee 15 helps ensure our students have access to nutritious meals beyond the school day. This is incredible. As if the free apps and desserts weren't enough. So, every $175 raised feeds one student beyond the school day for an entire year. All right. So, let me get this straight. I get to have an amazing night with my colleagues and community with the music, dancing, food, drinks, all of these fun experiences, and it helps feed students right here in District 15? Count me in. Where do I buy my ticket? It's already up. Great. All right. So, I can just scan this QR code and it'll take me to the D15 Celebrates 80

025Years page on our district website? Wow, you two really thought of everything. I know I'll be there, and we hope to see many of you there as well. JJ, Willow, cheers. And thank you. See you at the Conselyea on April 10th. >> Well done. WELL DONE. >> THANK YOU, JJ AND WILLOW FOR >> AMADAN. Amadan and Hillary. >> All right. >> Thank you all. All right. Uh up next we have Abby Morgan. >> Good evening. Excuse me. Good evening, Dr. Hines and members of the board. My name is Abby Morgan and I am a Pleasant Hill parent. I attended the most recent Parents as Partners meeting and what became clear to many of us in that room is that there appears to be a fundamental misunderstanding about the meaning of transparency. It was stated firmly

026that there had been full transparency in the decision to move Dr. Morris from Pleasant Hill. But transparency means operating in a way that is open and clear, allowing stakeholders to understand how and why decisions are made. Months of planning followed by a finalized decision announced by letter to a school community losing a beloved principal is not transparency. It is quite the opposite. Transparency would have meant communicating with the Pleasant Hill community before the decision was finalized when input could still matter. Dr. Morris has spent years building a culture, relationships, and stability that make Pleasant Hill the school it is today. Before this announcement, he had shared that he hoped to finish his career at Pleasant Hill. Many families believed that would be the case. At the Parents as Partners meeting, it was also suggested that

027it may simply be Pleasant Hill's turn to sacrifice for the greater good of the district. With respect, our school community should not be treated like a piece on a chessboard, moved around as part of a rotation. A school community is not a variable to be adjusted for balance. It's a living culture built over years through leadership, trust, and relationships. If months were spent planning these moves, it is reasonable for parents to ask why those same months were not spent cultivating and developing more leaders with the passion, commitment, and community investment that Dr. Morris embodies. Why are we not recruiting and mentoring new administ- administrators to meet that standard rather than redistributing those who already do? There's also the matter of timing. With the new superintendent about to step in to leadership of District 15, the

028optics of implementing widespread administrative changes at the end of the current superintendent's ten- tenure are difficult to ignore. Decisions that will shape the district's leadership structure for years to come seem better guided by the leader responsible for that future. I am not here tonight asking for an explanation. I am here asking you to reconsider this decision and allow Dr. Morris to remain at Pleasant Hill. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> UP NEXT, LEE BENNETT. >> SURE. HELLO, Superintendent Hines, President Adder, board, staff, and community. I'm Lee Bennett, boys volleyball coach at U-46's Canton Middle School. U-46 is going through a transition from junior highs to middle schools, and they'll have eight middle schools, a nice number for a running a league schedule, including a championship bracket at the end of the season.

029As most will recall, our realignment resulted in five middle schools of various sizes. This creates challenges for creating meaningful competition across our district. Competition that is necessary to maximize the learning which can occur in competitive sports. The sit The The structure of teams at Plum Grove is the biggest fact factor driving imbalance. Plum Grove's enrollment, size, and higher socioeconomics level gives it big advantages. Creating A and B teams at Plum Grove is a further advantage that makes it difficult, very difficult for any other school to win a championship. A better arrangement that I previously recommended to the appropriate staff is creating north and south teams at Plum Grove. Each half of Plum Grove would have an enrollment similar to TJ uh Thomas Jefferson. I'll be back with an analysis of the additional teams for the

030Palatine High School bound students. Thank you. >> All right, thank you, Lee. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um Frank Is it Skorski? Is that correct? >> Looks like John Candy's. >> Good evening. I'm uh I'm an old man. I haven't been here in a while. I stopped coming here about 15 years ago when my children finally passed through. Um There's a guy by the name of Jack Rosier. He's the reason I'm standing here. He did a phenomenal deep dive into education throughout the state of Illinois. He identified good and bad schools. With his documentation, I chose three of the District 15 schools: Frank C. Whiteley, Hunting Ridge, and Pleasant Hill. After I bought my house in August of '24, uh I'm sorry, '04, in October, Pleasant Hill won the No Child Left Behind. Statistics

031work. Uh AI is slowly taking over. I have never worked for the government, any government. I've always had to work for private industry where it was a meritocracy meritocracy. I I was always bad in English. Uh operation where you got promotions, raises, bonuses based on performance. I find it reprehensible that someone would even think about destroying the operation at Pleasant Hill to try and salvage another school which has been allowed to obviously decay. There's no excuse for the decay that has occurred. What we should be doing is doing what corporate America does, which is go out and find someone. We're replacing the superintendent. We're finding new people all the time in the teaching careers. We should do the same darn thing for private. I mean for principals. It's It's reprehensible. We're just rearranging the deck

032chairs on the Titanic. If If this was a corporation and I was running it and I was not doing well with my automotive sales, I'd go to my competitor and I'd steal his number one salesman. I see no reason why we shouldn't steal intelligence, experience, etc. Why Why move somebody around? Obviously, there's a lot of people. I didn't know about this till I started knocking doors to get everyone out to vote on the 17th. And I found out all my neighbors were livid. Please reconsider this lame duck administrative position. It's the same as when the party that has just lost the November election pays off all of their in-laws and out-laws. This cannot go on. This should not happen. Hire. >> Thank you. All right. We will No more green sheets? Okay. >> I want

033to drop the presentation for all teachers now. >> Okay. >> Move to the GMS presentation first. >> All right. Which item number? >> 5.2 >> We're going to 5.2. Okay. >> GMS >> All right. So, our district data improvement process and school level implementation presentation. >> We saw there was a lot of teachers in the audience, so we're going to shuffle the the order. >> Thank you. All right. She's going to look like she's at the kitty table. Okay. Angela's got it. Pressure's on. >> I will I'll I'll >> And I'm going to look at her. >> Thank you. >> It's going to go like this. Hi. President Eader, Dr. Hines, Board of Education, um I'm Natalie McFadden. I'm the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, and I'm thrilled to be here tonight and

034surrounded by >> Thank you. >> Um surrounded by the members of Graham School Board School. Um as you know, we have been in a process the past few years of really revitalizing our school improvement plans and processes. And um Yep. Oh, are we playing the movie right now? >> I don't No, that's just what was in order. >> Thank you. Um so we have three areas that we really have been focusing on. It's having high expectations, uh being aligned, and being data informed. And what that means is that we are setting rigorous goals at the district level that we have talked about at various other board meetings. We're ensuring that we have, you know, the scopes and sequences and supports in place to make sure that, you know, everybody can be aligned and swimming in

035the same direction. And then we're using data to have conversations and see what's working, what's not, and let's make some changes. And so, tonight I'm bringing with me here, I have GMS. And the reason it for that is GMS has been on a very long journey doing this work before we even really started solidifying it here as a district. And so, up here you can kind of see the pathway that happens when we have smart goals. We're always reviewing data. We're always looking to see where our strengths are that we can capitalize on and what shifts we can make. We have various pieces of data that we review on a regular basis. And we continue to update and amend those goals based on how we're doing. Our district has goals. And last year, if you

036recall, we achieved them. And if anything, we've actually already achieved some of our goals that we had for the end of 2028. But what I wanted you to be able to see today is working with a building, seeing what it looks like at each of our schools. GMS does a fabulous job with this, and I wanted you to be able to see how administrators, coaches, different types of roles, and teachers work together to have conversations about data, what's going on, and what they're going to do moving forward. And I've been fortunate to be able to be privy to sit at the table, albeit in a chair at the same height as them. But I've been privy to be part of these conversations and see how the teams are actually talking about how individual students are

037doing and how we're going to continue pushing kids forward. So, tonight I'm here really just to cheerlead and champion GMS and I'm it's so incredibly grateful and proud of all the people not just at this table, but all of the the teachers and staff in that building who work diligently every day to make this this data actionable and benefit our students. >> Before GMS takes over, can you go back for just a second? I want the board to just clue in to forward one, please. Link to our strategic plan, which you know we worked with a committee, many board members, administrators, teachers, we had some student voices to set our strategic plan. Emily alluded to our scorecard, which is where we track our goals over multiple years. And and we it really drives the work

038of administration and the board. But the missing component we realized when we wrote the second strategic plan in the last seven years was that we didn't have a direct link from the strategic plan into the schools and then into the classrooms, which we know is where the important work happens when teachers are working with the children. So, a couple years ago we started this process where and GMS is going to talk about their journey in using the tool of setting smart goals where every school in the district was having a consistent template that they were using to set either reading or math goals based on their data. Doesn't mean they're not looking to improve math or reading or or both, but they just picked one where the data showed that they had more room to

039grow. And then they needed to also look at their behavior data and or their attendance data and pick one in which they were going to measure. Which one stood out as needing more attention to to move the the school towards their goals. So, this process that you're going to hear GMS walk us through and I had the great pleasure of doing an observation with Angela and her team when they were talking about this. So, I'm able to see it in action and you'll hear from the the folks doing the work how we've drilled the strategic plan and this process into the classroom. And when we've talked about the growth that we've seen year-over-year with our students, we feel very strongly that it's because we have a strategic plan with action steps and measurable outcomes and

040then we have those the school improvement planning process where we're looking at data and we're making instructional decisions, we're making grouping decisions to really help close gaps, give the kids that need the extra attention the extra attention. So, this is something that over this is probably the second going into the third year in which we've really done This is the third year. >> This is the third >> and then Lori's last. So, this is the third year that this process has been working across the schools and it really is starting to change the data and the work that the teachers are doing with the kids. >> Thank you for saying that, Dr. Hines. Yes, and I think the other thing is when we come to you with data at the board level, we're talking about

041high stakes, those big assessments. And we're living in big assessment season right now. So, but the big assessments like the Illinois state assessments, MAP testing, that's not the daily driver of our instruction. It's the It's the curricular work. It's the assessments that are being given on a daily basis. It's looking how kids are doing on the tasks they're being asked to accomplish because that's the meaningful information that teachers need in order to drive to the work. So, you know, when we talk about it today, you'll hear about different kind of resources or pieces of data that they're pulling from, but know that those pieces of data are more of the micro level that lead up to those bigger tasks that become really high stakes for us. >> Okay. Well, good evening and thank you for

042the opportunity for us to share a little bit about our school improvement at Graham Sanborn. Before I do begin, I just want to introduce the team um helps lead and support this work. So, I'm Angela Gallegos, I'm the principal of Sanborn. Joining me tonight, we have Debbie Good, uh one of our kindergarten teachers. >> OG. >> YES. SHE WILL LOVE THAT. SHE'LL TALK ABOUT THAT. OKAY. Holly Leonard is our instructional coach. I'm also um supported by Yes, Holly. Clap, clap. I'm also supported by our administrative team, our assistant principals, Nolan Hanson, and uh Lauren Halpern is here as well. We didn't want to bring another church chair, as well as our student coordinator student services coordinator, Margie White League. Um while you'll hear us speak tonight about systems and structures, the reality is that this

043work truly begins at with the teachers and staff. >> mic a little closer? >> Oh, yes, I'm sorry. Thank you. Um our staff spend a tremendous amount of time reviewing student progress, reflecting on what's working for students, and making changes to instruction based on the data we're collected collecting. Their willingness to collaborate and look closely at student data is what really allows us to continuously improve. Uh I know principals love to brag on their staff, but I do want to just take a moment to shine a light on the commitment and contributions of Holly and Debbie. Um their leadership, willingness to share ideas, and dedication to this process have helped move this work forward in meaningful ways. So, on this slide, you can see uh how the process translates to the school level. So, at

044Sanborn, we begin by uh aligning our work with district goals and then identifying specific priorities for our building. These goals focus on student achievement, engagement, and professional learning. Once those priorities are established, grade level teams take ownership of the work. Teachers collaborate to determine how those goals translate into classroom practice, and they use student data to guide instructional decisions throughout the year. There There Uh one of the most important parts of this process is ensuring that data are visible and regularly discussed. So, at Sanborn, we have worked really hard as a staff um, and it it's a lot of left, right? It's it's it's a lot of work and and we're very proud of it, but we work hard as a staff to tell the narrative of our students learning and help guide our next

045instructional steps by using the data. Each month, our CIT team reviews tier one data to examine trends and discuss possible adjustments to instruction. So, Debbie's going to share a little bit more about that in just a moment. Um, but in addition, each trimester, we meet um, with our grade level teams. They come together to review benchmark assessments and determine what's working and what can be adjusted. This process builds collective teacher efficacy. Everyone understands the plan. Everyone participates in reviewing the data and we regularly revisit our strategies to ensure we are responding to our student needs. I will also share that this process has changed quite a bit over the two years since I've been at Sanborn. We began by focusing on reading. We're just now starting to layer in math. Um, and we have worked

046really hard to make sure staff in all of our building really understand the plan and what we're doing. So, we'll have Debbie talk a little bit about what this looks like from the classroom to grade level teams and then to the whole building. >> Thank you. So, two years ago, I initiated a systematic approach to student assessment designed to bridge the gap between daily instruction and year-end achievement in the area of reading. I selected formative assessments aligned with our district's FastBridge benchmarks. Once a month, I began using these assessments to monitor my students' progress. I collected and organized student scores in a color-coded spreadsheet like the one behind me. By organizing student data into a color-coded tracking system, I could easily see three instructional tiers. Students who were meeting the benchmarks were in green, those

047were at moderate risk of not meeting benchmarks were coded in yellow, and those that were requiring intensive intervention were coded in red. This visual data served as a roadmap for my instructional planning. During our daily flex time, I implemented targeted small group and one-on-one interventions. I focused on skills such as sound blending and word segmentation, short intensive sessions designed to close specific gaps. The results were transformative. Month by month, my data transitioned from at risk to proficient. By the end of the first year, a significant number of our students had met their kindergarten reading targets. Recognizing the success of this model, I shared the process with my colleagues, and together we implemented the process across the grade level. Last year, our SIP goal was 62% reading proficiency in kindergarten. We were able to surpass that

048goal by reaching 77% proficiency at kindergarten, and this year we've set our goal even higher for 80%. Both of these years would be above the board goal of having all students read at 70% proficiency by the end of the 2027-2028 school year. Today, the data responsive process that we adapted at kindergarten is now being spread across all of the grade levels at our school. This culture of continuous instructional improvement is central to our monthly CIT meetings and is significantly increasing student achievement school-wide. >> It's terrific. >> That's great. >> It really is terrific, and it's been something >> So, they're hearing me, I think. YEAH. >> YEAH. >> IT REALLY HAS BEEN QUITE AMAZING. BUILDING on what Deb said, these data sheets have really become kind of the anchor of a whole system that we're

049using at Sanborn, where we're consistently looking at data and making all of our decisions based on that. So, as she talked about, one of the committees that uses this is our continuous improvement team, and by using these data sheets, it's entirely changed our conversations during these meetings. Um during these meetings, the grade level reps share the trends that their teams have identified, and also the instructional shifts that they're planning on making each month based on those trends. And there are so many great ideas that are shared that then these team reps can take them back to their own team, so it's been a great way to spread the ideas throughout our school. We also do some problem solving for groups of students whose scores are stuck, so we have tons of experts in the room,

050and that's been really valuable for us to have those conversations. Then after the meeting, I follow up with teachers to see what support they need in implementing their plans. At this time, we really look at individual students, and we're we had a lot of celebrating lately, which has been really fun. Um we've got a lot of students that are making a lot of progress and moving into the green that Deb was talking about. And for students who are stagnating in their growth, um we also talk about them, and we make a plan for how we're going to jump-start their progress. Was that me? >> Are you? >> Oh. Um okay, sorry about that. Uh we wanted to cap We were having so many really great ideas in our data digs and our CIT meetings that

051we wanted to capitalize on all the wonderful ideas and share them with the staff. So Angela introduced a making practice public segment to the first 10 meetings of our uh staff meetings, and they've been really popular. Inevitably, teachers share, and we've had tons of sheet teachers share tons of different ideas. Um but inevitably, these teachers share, and then after the meeting, somebody tells me like, "I can't wait to try that in our classroom." So it's just been a really great way to share ideas throughout our staff. Okay, and then this one is um we started basically we were having a lot of conversations about the data, and one of the things we were looking at were our yellow students, and we were trying to figure out how we could move them into the green. Um

052so as we were looking at them, we thought, you know, maybe they just needed a little extra dose of practice in order to make that jump. So we created a school-wide uh reading fluency program that we call TAP for targeted assisted practice. And for these students, we meet with them 5 minutes three times a week uh to practice reading fluency. And we always graph our student scores with them so that they can see their progress as well. Um this has been incredibly effective for us. So last year we started in the middle of the year. We moved 30 two students from the yellow to the green, which was over half of our TAP students. And of our second through fifth grade students that were part of this program, 76% of them um that took MAP

053testing made their expected growth, and that's compared to a nationwide average of 50%. Um so we were really excited about this because it felt like the work we were doing on fluency was then translating into comprehension. Um so it's been an all-in approach, and we really appreciate we've got some wonderful PAs and interventionists, some parents that primary has gotten to help us, and Deb recently um contacted the Kiwanis Club, so we've got some volunteers from there. So we've been really appreciative of all the help, but we're committed to getting those three reads in because we know it's been so effective for our students. And just the last thing is that um now we've started layering on math. So in the last 2 weeks we started we have a retired PA who's really amazing that's coming

054back and helping me run the math TAP programs. So we're really excited and hopeful that we'll have similar good results with that in the spring. >> All right, so good ideas are contagious. And in following the momentum that was created through all of our data team meetings, it was natural for us to roll this color-coded system into other areas of our school, including academic MTSS, our attendance meeting, and supporting our students with IEPs. So, for our academic meetings, we regularly check how our students are performing at the tier one level along with any tier two interventions that they're receiving. Uh having that data sorted and readily available really helps to drive those conversations on a level that was not there in years past. And and this MTSS process directly informs our student services team as

055they consider potential supports for students who are moving through the academic tiers without making adequate improvement. And then we've also extended this type of data system for our attendance team, and we are incredibly fortunate to have a large group of teachers, clinicians, and our A-LOP advocates there to support our work each month um at our attendance team meetings, and we follow a similar process to the other systems in identifying students that are in need of tier two attendance interventions with multiple with multiple supports, and we track their progress with the same color-coded system. Uh this team is dedicated to celebrating and recognizing the increases in student attendance while at the same time supporting our families who may need assistance in getting their students to school. And so, it's very clear that that the system that

056that that created and implemented has impacted our school across many different areas, and to wrap it up, you know, and now we're going to act take questions, but I to wrap it up, I just wanted to praise our entire school team and recognize them as like, you know, this couldn't be done without their continued dedication and support. >> Yeah. It's a It's a big lift, and we're very proud of the work they're doing. And you've done a lot of this with kids coming into kindergarten that don't have the academic readiness, the behavioral readiness, right? This >> Yes. >> So, I know how hard that has been. Also, the other side of our our triangle, you've got the academic and you you're also contending with the the behavioral component, and it's still the needle is still

057moving, and it's moving at a really nice angle. >> Yeah. >> So, it it we can't forget that that part of it cuz I know that that is really been something you have also focused on, and it's been you made this work a little bit more challenging. So, congratulations doubly because I I know it's been a it's been a tough couple years, but it's really working, and it's exciting to see. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Do you have any questions for us? Be honest. >> When does the adversity take >> You know Sam, I can feel the heat. >> No, I want to start by saying thank you. I really appreciate um the creative work and and looking at it and saying, "You know what? This can be um spread throughout the

058entire school. Um I can imagine um in terms of like uh in terms of like the behavioral issues with with students, I'm sure that's like dwindled, and we're at a point where uh students are coming to school just to learn. Um so, I guess uh I'm just asking um if you were to uh give some advice to the other schools that are that may or um be challenged, um what would you say in order to um spark that creativity within their own groups um so that this can spread like wildfire to the rest of the entire district? >> I would say just start with something small um because I think it's it's there's so many that things that teachers are trying to do, and it doesn't always feel successful um and it just feels very

059negative a lot of the times, and when you pick something small and you actually use the data, and you tie it to what you're doing in the classroom, and you see the results at the end for just one small piece, and you feel like you are the person who did that for your students, then it motivates you to want to keep um layering it on and doing more and more um cuz it feels good. You see that you're making a difference, and a lot of times we don't see that every day. It's just it's overwhelming the needs that kids have and all that you're trying to do. So, if you just start small and pick one small skill or one area and just start finding assessments and tracking it and then you realize what you're

060doing is making a difference and then it motivates you to want to keep going. And it kind of goes from there. >> Debbie and I had this discussion this week actually of just how do we keep this momentum going and just um you know, get it moved to other areas of the building as well and and you know, other other teachers um that are just like Debbie said like sometimes you just get so overwhelmed with all the daily things and once you just start to see that data move you're like, okay, what I'm doing is working, you know, and you start to think about maybe I could try this and see if this works. So, it's been really nice to see. >> Do you want to talk a little bit about how we're we're building

061towards the a PLC where everyone has access to everyone's best ideas, we're sharing across buildings? >> Absolutely. >> importance of having a consistent model that we're using in our school. >> I think one of the pieces that um this entire process that GMS does is it is on the backs of the teachers and the professionals in that building. This is something that they have chosen to do, that they take the data, they graph the data, they are doing all of that on top of everything else that is asked of them and and to your point, Wanda, kids are still coming in not necessarily ready for school and yet the scores that are coming out are outstanding. Um and so, one of the things that we have talked about is, you know, there's a real intentionality

062in the teaming practices that happen at GMS and that has been something that, you know, I I think has has been come forth from the teachers within that building. Um and so, we want to help create more of those opportunities across the district. Um so, next year we are looking at a model where we could uh potentially get about a half hour a week um for each team to be able to meet across the district at their buildings, right? Because we'd like to just find ways to be creative and have these conversations. These conversations take a lot They take time, and it's hard to carve out that time when you're juggling a lot of different things, and shout out to elementary, you're juggling every single content area. Yeah. And so, um finding ways that we

063can both help lift some of the burden of how do we organize that data for people so that they don't have to hold that weight, uh but also how do we create the time and opportunity to to the conversations that have just been happening naturally, or they're not naturally, they're intentional by the teachers at GMS. I don't want to make that sound like something that just is happenstance. That's an intentional move that they make. Um but how can we help facilitate that in other buildings? And then with people like Holly, too, who can help be your your sideline partner in crime to say, "Let's think about this, or I saw this in this place. How about we try that?" Um so really thinking about how we can just have those conversations more regularly, and that's

064something teachers talk about. You know, we don't have institute day often, and every single time it's teachers saying, "Can we have time to just like talk about what we're doing?" And so, let's not wait for those couple times a year to do that. Let's figure out a way to have that on an ongoing basis so that we can really learn from one another and um have some sacred time to be able to do those things. >> So two more things for me, and then uh TAP, that's Targeted Assistance Assistance Program, I think is a fabulous idea. Um can you talk a little bit more about that because I don't know that many other schools are doing it. And then, once we're done with TAP, can you just roll a little bit into WIN so the

065board understands how we all have a WIN block, you know, in the district to give the kids that's WIN is what I need. So, if you can do both of those things, I think that will give the board even even a bigger glimpse into the work that you're doing. Um so, TAP is really based on student reading fluency. So, generally teachers give a reading fluency uh quick read at the beginning of the year and based on that, we look at our students that we think would most benefit from this TAP program. And then really what it is is just uh we pull them out of the classroom. It really lasts about 5 minutes. They do a quick read and we track their errors and also their words correct per minute. We did a do a

066little bit of re-teaching and then we send them right back into the classroom. So, it's really quick, but um it's been really fun to see just the consistency of those reads and how their scores really go up. And then again, I think the biggest thing was when we looked at MAP. Um so, MAP's not really it requires fluency, but it's not necessarily a fluency test. There's a lot more comprehension needed. And so, to see that so many of these students that were part of this TAP program then made that growth on MAP showed us that there And that's what the research says too about fluency is that fluency work does improve comprehension, but we saw it really first hand in our data. And then the WIN block, do you want to talk about that, Holly?

067>> I can talk about WIN. >> Okay. Um I mean, so Holly, I know has been working on TAP for a little while. We have another meeting coming up to talk about trademarking it, bringing it to a school near you. Um but we have these blocks called uh WIN and it's what I need. And the idea is it's a time where there's not a specific content that we're saying you must teach this or here's the scope and sequence for this. It's really meant as a time to say, "Hey, this group of kiddos could use some extra support with maybe reading aloud and some reading fluency or ooh, we really missed the mark on um some of the comprehension of whatever text it is we're looking at." And so, trying to have a flexible block for

068teachers to work together um to be able to figure out how to help find those holes, right? Holly's talking about 5 minutes three times a week. Well, where does that time come from? It it's hard to find that time. And so figuring out ways where we can be more intentional about having some secret time to say here's a good here's a good place. This is the time I'm always going to check in with these kids. But then having this data to look at on an ongoing basis allows you to say number one is what I'm doing working? And if so, like they're saying great. How do we keep that going? And for kids that may you know, you don't want anybody falling through the cracks. So how can we make sure that we're checking on

069an ongoing basis and saying this kiddo could use a little bit of this. I'm going to during this time I'm going to grab him and we're going to actually practice some multiplication during that time. I'm noticing that. So we're you know, it's a great block of time, but again, it's another area that we have to be intentional in planning for. And so trying to find ways where we have little programs like tap that are very easy to write just we're going to read this together. You're going to read this to me. Trying to make things easy, but that additional practice is is what gets the results. You know, the the kids that were here for two ball, they were practicing and having lessons on that before they got to that competition. The same thing is

070true here. These are kids who just need a little bit more guidance practice to have somebody kind of be like let's read that again. And so the wind blocks attempt is really to try and keep some time sacred for teachers to feel like they have space to be flexible in addressing those needs. >> Perfect. I was just going to add you know, as we started that process last year, that was kind of the nice part that came out of the making practice public is that some of our team started to share what they were doing during that wind time. And then you know, other teams were like, "Oh, I could try that. Could I go see that?" And so, then we had more teachers like wanting to see each others' instruction. Um, because we were

071all learning as we were going, right? What are we going to do with that time, and what are we going to use during that time? We want to make it purposeful, but we didn't know exactly what we're going to do within, so we kind of uh, played with it, if you will. We we, you know, tried different things out, and then over time we've really perfected like, "Okay, this is what I'm going to do." We We did We've done that really well with reading. Now we're thinking about, you know, how we're going to extend that into math. >> And it tracks with ISBE and their numeracy plan. We have the literacy plan and that roadmap. So, we've kind of got that nailed down, and now with the the state's numeracy plan, the timing is is

072right, because that is going to be something new that they're going to roll out. >> Absolutely. And then, the other thing is once you get kind of used to looking at data, right? Like, it becomes a muscle memory of, "Oop, I'm looking for the red. I'm looking at the yellow. Okay, what are we going to do?" It's a nice thing that we can, you know, there's a really good momentum at BMS because they figured out how to do it with literacy. So, the hurdle for math is just Okay, let's look at the data. Let's figure out what we're going to do. But, that practice of looking at data and grouping and re-teaching isn't new to them. So, it's just it's really nice cuz they've built a structure for whatever the topic is to be able

073to be looked at through a data-specific lens and then addressed. >> I'm just curious, who who does that? Um, who does the WIN? Who does the the tap? I know that um, teachers do the assessment, but who actually um, reaches out to that kid and does the >> Um, so, we've had to be a little creative in figuring out cuz we're really committed to those three reads. So, it's usually I There's a wonderful PA, Christie Brem, that um, admin really works to try to get her so she's not subbing. So, they work together with us. Um, we have a retired PA, Kathy Davey, that came in and helped. Uh, our interventionists, like any spare moment, we kind of look at the schedule and any spare moment anybody has, we capitalize on it. You know, if

074it's a 15-minute, half an hour, it's like you can get into TAP kids at that time. So, we've really had to kind of scrounge to get the time. I do the TAP as well. And now that we're doing math, we're a little bit more spread, but you know, that's made us a little bit more creative as, you know, Deb and her team has have worked with Kiwanis Club to get them in. We've got primary parents in. And so, we're really honing our process now that we think that we could have other people come in and easily give it to them and have a place that we collect the data and still have somebody oversee it. Like I usually oversee it and then talk to teachers about the progress that's being made, which kids are ready

075to go back to the classroom, who's maybe stagnating in their growth and needs to start ending up in TAP. So, it sort of feels like we aren't letting any kids fall through the cracks. You know, we're kind of shoring up all of our systems that way. But yeah, it's it's a lot of people that help with TAP whoever we can get to do it. >> But to again, systematize that put, you know, put that into a larger system of of, you know, 15 elementaries is the parent uh the the volunteer program that we're trying to build for next year, right? So, I was at a Kiwanis luncheon during a presentation. I said we need helpers and they've appeared at JMS. But we need we need hundreds of volunteers coming into our schools on a daily

076basis to do this work. And so, we've been working on uh a volunteer program that we can hopefully launch next year to to roll this out across all the schools. So, watch for a little bit more on that. I know we have parents that would love to come in, certainly folks in the community, retired folks in the community, Rotarians, Kiwanians, you know, you name it. There's people that want to get into the schools. Long ago, there was a senior exchange in the district and you could work off your tax bill. It was kind of a job. There was timekeeping and all of that. And we're not going to go that far because there is an expense to that to the district, but really just truly launching a volunteer program and something like this is manageable

077for a senior or somebody that's a non-educator to just come in and really do these quick reads or these quick math, you know, quick math classes, if you will, to help kids close the gap because that fluency, you know, turns into automaticity, which then is the key to everything else, whether it's with reading or whether it's in math. So, that's hopefully how next year, you know, it'll happen on a larger scale. >> Awesome. >> So, if you if you, you know, copyright it, we'll we'll be the first to implement it across the district. >> Um can you go back to the slide that had the like rainbow dial picture? >> Hattie's rainbow, yeah. >> Okay, can you re-explain what that is? >> Yes, absolutely. Okay, so yes, this is um visible from Visible Learning. It's

078talking about like what can we do as educators that's really going to going to produce the most um zone of desired effects. And that like blue area is the zone of desired effects. So, there's all different things we do as educators, right? Many different strategies and moves. And if you see like collective teacher efficacy had a 1.6 effect size um to accelerate student learning. So, that is getting at really that we have this plan and everyone's doing it, everyone knows it. Um you know, long gone are the days where we're closing our doors and we're doing our own thing because, you know, I think this works with my kids. We really want to share across the whole building. Um so, that, you know, if someone's doing something great, other teams can capitalize that as well.

079>> Okay, perfect. Thank you. My other question was how in the world does 5 minutes like create that like the outsize effect is wild. Um so, just very cool and kudos to you all for implementing that and the data is clear that it's working. So, congratulations. >> The video? Back to the beginning. >> Back to the beginning of it. >> Okay. Yep. We put a video together of some other schools in conversations and I think maybe some clips from when we when I observed are in this video. So, just so you can see CIT is the team that does this work across the district. >> I'm Mary Beth Landerman. I'm a seventh grade ELA teacher here at Thomas Jefferson and I am a part of our CIT committee working on vocabulary this year for our

080school goal and we targeted vocabulary after looking at data from MAP and Common Lit and IAR tests and each department got together and looked for, talked about words that were vital for kids understanding for progress in the subject area and these eight words, which became our Jaguar jargon, were decided upon and came up in many different departments. So, these were the eight we chose for the kids to work on and that's what we've been doing over the past 10 weeks. >> This is week seven of the TJMS academic vocabulary. This week's Jaguar Jargon word is perspective. The broad definition of a perspective is your unique point of view or the specific way you see a situation, which is often shaped by your background or experience. Soon, when your teacher tells you to do you will

081take out your Lotus diagram and find the word perspective on the paper. You will write down the definition based off the class period you're in right now. When announcements are over, your teacher will take a few minutes to share with you the definition of perspective that is specific to the subject area of the class you're in right now. You'll do this in all of your classes today and every Wednesday until your Lotus diagram is complete. >> Central Road School Improvement Goals are related to literacy in the area of academics. Students and teachers in grades kindergarten, first, and second are focusing on sight word acquisition. Students in grades three, four, and five are focusing on vocabulary development. Our school improvement goals also focus on the area of attendance and encouraging as many students to attend school

082regularly. We also meet with grade levels several times throughout the school year to get a temperature check and a gauge on how students are performing towards both their academic and their attendance goals. >> Hi, I'm Emily Geffel. I'm the assistant principal at Paddock and so one of our first goal, the academic goal, is really focused on supporting our students with reading. And so one of the things that we've been kind of helping support teachers doing is looking at data and encouraging them to create some differentiated instruction based on the data that they've been looking at. So we've been talking a lot about data and then how you can like work with different groups of students. >> Hi, I'm Carla O'Connor. I teach third grade at Paddock. Our Paddock School Improvement Goals are to increase the

083reading level of our second through fifth graders and on the map up to 55% meeting their goal. In my classroom and in our grade level all using common lit to help us with that. We are assessing the students weekly or bi-weekly and then looking at their scores to see what kind of groups we can make to differentiate the instruction to make sure that we're honing in on the skills that they specifically need. >> Hi, so I'm Michelle Scott. Um, I teach K5 resource. So, I work with several of the students throughout the building. And our goals this year are based on reading. And it's kind of exciting for those of us who are in um, a special area, special ed, because we're taking sight words for K2, which is kind of hard outside of a

084classroom, and we're looking for different ways that we can incorporate those into our practices. Um, so we've been working together pretty closely as a team to come up with activities that we can do even in speech and social work and OT and all those areas that you wouldn't necessarily think of as reading. >> Just a couple little snapshots of the CIT work in action. Congratulations to everyone, but thank you, GMS. You guys are really a our pace car, so we really appreciate not only you coming tonight, but the work you do every day. >> THANK YOU. >> EMILY, JUST SWITCH CHAIRS, but and then MJ, come on down. >> Oh. >> She's getting comfortable there. >> Okay. Okay. The rest of the team from our tech committee, come on up. >> I don't know which

085chair. We need to get a chair. >> I know. >> For the room. >> So, when I was a teacher, >> All right. else? Can you hear me? Okay. >> Okay. >> Uh good evening, uh President Eder, Superintendent Hines, and members of the school board. Um it is a pleasure to be here tonight to share an update on how we are evolving uh the student digital experience here in District 15. All right. So, Emily and I uh have with us today three members of our technology and learning focus group who will also be sharing tonight. Uh we have Patrick Dawson. Um he's a father of students at Jane Addams. Uh Ben Creed, he is a father of students at Winston Campus Elementary. And Carrie Ann Lowry, a wonderful fifth-grade teacher at Jane Addams. So, to

086understand uh where we are going, we first have to look at where we've been. Uh so, historically, our technology journey was defined by access. Uh before the pandemic, we were one-to-one uh in only our junior highs, our seventh and eighth graders, while our kindergarten and sixth-grade students shared uh utilized shared device carts. Uh and then, as we all remember, uh COVID shifted our reality overnight, uh requiring a rapid district-wide one-to-one deployment in order to move to online instruction. So, today, we find ourselves post-COVID, uh where every student is indeed assigned a device. And while this has removed barriers to access to these tools, it also has brought us to a critical inflection point. Moving from having the technology to being truly intentional about how we use it to engage, to enhance, and to extend learning

087for our students. So, we are taking or we took an action research approach to determine where to go next as our environment involves evolves to better enhance student learning. So, as a result of last year's smartphones at school committee, this year the district launched the disconnect to reconnect campaign at the start of the school year. We implemented clear guidelines. Cellphones are silenced in lockers or backpacks. Smartwatches are kept in school mode to block distractions and smart glasses were prohibited. But these aren't just rules. They are the foundation for a culture where we prioritize face-to-face connection and deep focus. We are actively re-norming the student experience to ensure that when technology is away, students are fully present with one another. So, to ensure our next steps to ensure that our next steps were grounded in the

088needs of our community, we launched the technology and learning focus group. And we brought together a diverse range of voices, parents, teachers, administrators um across all of the schools and grade levels uh to assess our current state and collaborate on a shared vision. The purpose of this group was simple, but yet profound. We defied to define what intentional practice looks like in a D15 digital classroom. And we didn't want technology to just simply be an add-on or a digital version of a worksheet. Uh we wanted it to be a catalyst for the specific skills our students need to succeed in modern times. >> As >> Oops, sorry. >> So, our first session uh was led by Dr. Devorah Heitner. Uh she's a researcher and an author. She's written uh a couple of books um around

089just uh technology and the student experience. Um and she led uh in that first session really discussions to help get a temperature check on just um for the members of the um the group in the room, um how do we perceive uh the role that technology plays in our homes with our own children, as well as then what's our awareness of how technology is being used um in the schools. >> And the uh second session that we had um started with the uh portrait of a District 15 graduate as kind of an anchoring point. Um and that engaged in an activity of you can see some of the sticky notes on the board where we went around and thought about what it would look like for technology to be in that place. So, it was

090understanding how we could use technology to uh to meet those uh aspects of six aspects of a District 15 graduate. And those conversations led to the beginnings of what you'll see later tonight uh related to vision alignment, how we'd want to see practices of tech instructional technology used, um what those competencies would be around technology, um Um, and then with a future focus on skill development. >> Thank you. Thank you for getting Um, okay. And then um, the day three that we did this, uh, we were talking about the intentionality of the use and having intent in how we're going to use the technology in the classroom, why it's being used the way it's being used so it's not just, as you said, being put in there just because. Um, we wanted to make sure

091that students also have a balanced use of technology where it's not all tech, not all paper. Um, Oh, sorry. I'm usually pretty low. >> Use that teacher voice. >> Um, and then the um, developmentally appropriateness of the technology for students. So, it's not a one size fits all for kids. In kindergarten through eighth grade, it's going to change as they move along, um, depending on their own needs. So, um, we did on session three. >> So, what we're trying to do then is move forward together in this work. And so, a foundational achievement of this focus group's collaborative efforts is a development and articulation of our portrait of a D15 digital learner. Um, now this is not an isolated or a theoretical concept. It's a creation, uh, its creation was explicitly aligned with the core

092competencies and the aspirational qualities defined in the traits of a portrait of a graduate, which were developed just a few years ago, uh, as a community. So, this intentional linkage ensures that the development of essential digital skills and mindsets, uh, are fully integrated and directly support the broader educational goals established for all of our students who matriculate through our district, uh, making the portrait of a D15 digital learner as a natural and essential extension to the district's overall vision for student success. >> So, the first competency of being an effective communicator um and looking at it through a digital lens um for us to uh first acknowledge that with technology that opens up an opportunity for the audience that students can interact with to truly be global. And so, there's um some decisions that have

093to be made in terms of who is actually the best audience for me to reach out to um and then what's the best mode for me to communicate with that audience in a digital way. Um and then how do I apply those SEL and digital citizenship skills uh to demonstrate and communicate in a way that's respectful, responsible, um and effective. >> The uh second characteristic was a digital learner who can be a collaborator. Um and so, this was talking about how to work uh regardless of uh physical proximity to understand this global community that we don't need physical proximity to collaborate. And that tools could provide that uh opportunity to collaborate in a new way. Um and also to practice those uh digital manners to think about how do you uh work in those spaces

094to provide constructive collaborative feedback to those that you work with. Um and then how to identify the tools that enable and work with those tools to to use the different strengths of different platforms, different technologies to facilitate um collaboration as well as elevate others' strengths as well as their own strengths using those technological tools in collaborative ways. >> Okay, so um I like this one. The critical thinking one as a teacher, this one hit for me um pretty hard. Um improving the quality of one's own thinking was part of our D-15 graduate portrait and um having students analyze assess, and reconstruct their thinking. Um Technology's great for helping out with that. But how to appropriately use that is really important um and understanding how to use things and know the accuracy of what they're accessing.

095Um and know that what they are accessing has solid evidence behind it, that it's not just out there. Um no Wikipedia in my classroom is allowed, so it's That's my big one. Um but it's definitely um something that I took real seriously when we met for this one and um that students also are open-minded with what they come across and that what they find online is also rational because they do have a lot of access to a lot of opinions out there, too, that may seem like fact that may not be. We could be careful. >> Make question everything. >> Yes. >> Um the next one is an empathetic citizen. Um you know, I I think all of us we've experienced uh situations where people perhaps have a little more courage when they're behind a

096screen. And so um um and uh and often that's because we don't have the feedback of body language or facial expressions to really inform us of how that's landing. And so that requires us to be responsible when we're interacting through a digital lens to make sure that we're stopping and thinking about how that might be received. And so that um idea of place, you know, and actually the word earlier that was highlighted was perspective of putting ourselves in the the shoes of somebody else, um somebody from a different background, especially when we're considering that that audience is truly global. So it's somebody that I may not actually have um a true connection with in terms of like location and understanding their neighborhood, but I need to broaden my my understanding of who that might be,

097um the context that they might be entering into that interaction with, and put myself into their shoes. And then the next um thing that's required of us in that um empathetic approach then is to um enter into that with um with kindness um to make sure that we're open uh in considering that other person in that and those are skills that are going to carry our students forward forever. That I think as adults we recognize there's still a need for us to be empathetic citizens especially today and so applying that both in person in real life but then also on the other side of a screen. >> The fifth characteristic was a resilient learner and as we talked about that in the digital space or techno as it applies in technology spaces we always want

098to have folks have those mindsets of not giving up right to see opportunities to grow mistakes being opportunities to learn and I think what this connected I'm going slightly off script because it's also not just about characteristics of our students that we want but the need for modeling of that from our teachers and our staff and using technology as a tool to model that I think is a something that came up in our conversations. That technology it's okay to make mistakes it's okay to struggle with technology and that's part of what we want in a resilient learner and technology is a great space for that because it may be unfamiliar or maybe a different platform but we can figure it out together or individually we want that student to have that perspective with the tool

099of it's okay to make mistakes it's just a tool it's not going to break cuz you're playing around with it and so understanding that putting the time in to to lead to can lead to success and empower themselves and others around them and we part of the conversation was for the staff or the teachers to also model that through the process as part of our conversation. >> Okay and then um adaptive learning with students. The 15 graduates we wanted them to be able to respond productively to feedback praise setbacks and criticism. Feedback's huge in classrooms but feedback also isn't always positive sometimes the kids get critical feedback you know to change things and improve Um and students learning how to understand and harness it and improve on what they're doing um is a real um

100tool for them. So, now that we have the digital world, um the feedback that they may encounter or seek out is going to be from a much wider audience again. And understanding how to navigate that and use it positively both in receiving and providing feedback to people in different various ways um is something that we hope that they go forward with um very successfully in the future. >> So, this brings us to our primary focus uh moving forward, intentional use. Uh we are moving away from technology for technology's sake. Uh our instructional design now asks us, "Does this tool amplify the learning goal?" Um so, these foundational tenants I'm just going to leave it here. Uh capture how we are fostering environments where technology is used purposefully for collaboration, for immediate feedback, uh to improvement,

101and for creating things that aren't possible with pen and paper. Um but equally important, we are being intentional about when to close the lid. So, if a learning goal is best met through a discussion, a Socratic seminar, or hands-on science experiments, that's exactly where our focus remains. >> So, one of the key pieces, and it's, you know, why we have the fabulous people up here and that we're on our committee or focus group, is that we really see this as having a shared ownership and that everybody uh everybody has a stake in making this successful for students. Um, and I think one of the things with COVID is COVID really reset things, but now we need to reset. Uh, you know, it introduced us I I wanted to point out a couple of things. Um,

102so since COVID, yes, we have gone one-to-one as a district. However, we have also added over 150 independent reading books in every K-5 classroom, over 250 in every 6-8 classroom. We have ensured all of our curriculum has blended properties, which means that it has physical resources for kids to be part of. I think one of the big pieces that we learned from COVID is there's power in being together in a common space. And so, yes, technology can bring us together in some ways, but also for those hours that we're here and in person together, we want to take advantage of those opportunities. Um, and so, you know, we're doing a lot of reflection through this process to say what is our experience taught us, and um, you know, what is it that we want moving

103forward? And these competencies are not just because they're digital competencies, doesn't mean that they're only embedded in a digital environment. It's just becoming the way that we operate now. Um, so with that, we have a few you know, how does the rubber meet the road in this, if you will. Um, and so, looking at our curriculum reviews, when Dr. Hines came in, we uh, shifted the way that we do curriculum reviews. We follow what's called the RDIM process, so it is research, uh, you know, design, implementation, and model. Um, and we do that on a set timeline so that we give ourselves the the grace of time to really dig in and see what works uh, but we also continually check to make sure that what we're using is the best thing possible is best

104for our students is is really best practice. And so while we've been doing that for curriculum moving forward we need to be doing that also for digital resources and we need to be having those opportunities to reflect and say is this the right resource with the speed the technology you know happens new things are always coming out. So to say is what we're doing best practice what is research saying and then how do we shift and change? Well we know research is saying kids shouldn't be on screens all the time hence why you know if you have a middle schooler they get this beautiful textbooks have shifted to these beautiful workbooks and so you know really wanting to make sure that we are intentional about having that because we know sitting at a screen isn't

105the right thing to do all the time. Um but so by having that as part of our review process we are always being intentional about that. The other piece of that is and it all come up again later when we talk about partnership but you know being intentional in our scopes and sequences and what we have happening in our classrooms. It's very easy to get enlightened and attracted by different tools that are out there but it is that intentionality and kind of checking ourselves and saying who is this the best way that I can get you know get us to where we need to go learning wise. So Thank you. Um so you know you see up there we have a couple things. Number one play. During recess we do not allow kids on screens.

106Not only is that a law there's a playtime law in the state but that is also the rule and let me tell you I actually GMS I don't know if any of them are still here. I was in some of their indoor recesses this winter after a long and cold winter. Woof, some of those kids just want to be sitting on a screen, but we do not allow it. But that's also where the creativity comes in and you know, masking tape turns into a soccer ball. That's okay. That's a Those are good opportunities for kids, right? So, we have play in our kindergarten. We are intentional about that. We're intentional about trying to have the variety of tools and resources and that goes to how are we using technology in ways that are really meaningful

107to build up you know, what what kids are able to do. So, our scopes and sequences, you can see that little snapshot in the corner is every topic and standard that teachers in second grade have to get through by the end of the year. All of the resources in there have hands-on components and they have digital components, but we are very specific in trying to set limitations and guidance around when do we use it? When does it make the most sense? And now that we have these competencies that we're looking at, we can start doing crosswalks to make sure that we are getting kids not just able to be able to use the tools, but use them in effective ways that are actually going to help them moving forward. If you want to go to

108the next slide. So, currently for student learning, we already have embedded different types of in the in the world for digital citizenship. However, we start all of our lessons with learning how do we work appropriately with our peers in person and how does that carry into a digital world? So, um we have these different topics that we're always looking at and we're teaching kids um next year and it's what I talked about in the presentation, I think, right before this. Um next year our goal uh is to have a really even more solidified scope and sequence that occur in the library. Yes, the library will teach some of these digital tools and looking at uh resources, but the library's also, since COVID, have been filled and renovated with books. And so, it's how are we

109using these things in balance and in tandem to support the students um and their learning and growth. All right, taking devices home. So, after we went to a one-on-one, the the practice that we had here was that uh K2 would keep their devices here at school all the time unless we sensed that there was a potential for uh some e-learning. Um and then 3-8 would take them home every single day. Well, the intended purpose of taking them home was really so that kids had the opportunity that if they had uh work that they needed to do for school, that they could do that using their school devices. But in doing our reflections, that we found that 3-4 really doesn't have that. So, because of that, what we are uh recommending for next year is that

1103-4 would also keep their devices at school. And they would only take take them home on a needed basis, whether it's a school assignment or we sensed that there could be a potential for an e-learning day. And we're we're still committed to playing in the snow. Um but you just you want to have options, right? And so, teaching our third and fourth graders to to learn some of those skills of what tools do I need to be able to accomplish any homework I have. It's not regular that it seems to be utilizing the computers, so we want to keep those at school. Five, eight will be taking them home on a daily basis. And the reason for that is number one, middle school kids have homework that utilizes the computers. And by the time that

111they get to the high school, and I look at Carrie and because she had kids that went through there and she's like, "It's all digital." We want to help teach kids some of the routines and functions so that they can be successful. So, as they get into the routine in fifth grade of taking that computer home and utilizing it for whatever work they may have, by sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, they have a whole learning curve of coming to the middle school environment. But one thing then that won't be a new learning curve for them is that that computer is necessary and you need to take it home and you need to bring it in charged. So, you know, that is our plan for moving forward. That's a little bit of a shift, but we

112think that it matches what our reality looks like in our classrooms and the needs on a nightly basis for kids. >> So, before you go on, can I ask, MJ, I think your team was looking at this starting at the beginning of the year in terms of when it was COVID, we didn't buy charging stations. And when we worked together in in Park Ridge, we had big carts in the hallways and and not everybody had a a laptop and you signed them out and you shared them and they could be charged and they were probably a fire hazard because they were in a hallway for Um, so now that our second graders have kept them at school, our third and fourth graders will leave them at school beginning next school year. What is that going

113to look like in terms of in our schools or in our classrooms, to your budget, to to make this shift? >> Well, it it's definitely an additional investment for us. >> Well, yes, that's what the board would know. So, >> Um, the it is it is. And it it is a little bit of a shift of how things get managed, whether it be over the summer or whatever preparation work we we need to do that as well as it it's on the teachers, right? To be able to make that space, utilize it, and and have it in a particular spot in in the room so that you know, they can get to it. Like there's not a lot of stuff around it, but also too it does become a classroom management thing that they have

114to work into their routines, right? And as students do our I mean we've seen this kindergarten these kindergarteners like when they stay they know how to take care of their devices and things like that. That's going to be an addition to that. Some of the other considerations as well though is we want to leave this to the teachers discretion of whether or not a student may need to the device home. So that might be a little bit extra of well, looks like Ben needed to take it home tonight because he does have some extra exercise that would be great for him to do. I'm going to have to remember Ben needs to bring that back, right? So there is going to have to be some transition in terms of management of the devices, but I

115think with the benefits that are are going to be had because teachers will have that discretion and will be able to differentiate based on kids needs then that would be appropriate for that grade level, three and four. >> Okay, thank you. >> All right, our next slide is family partnership and there's a few things, you know, we have again as we kind of do our reviews of what's working and what tools do we need. Securely is a newer resource for us this year. We used to have something was a GoGuardian Um, and it's really classroom if you will, it's a digital classroom management. Right? You can see what's happening, what kids are doing online. Again, we did a review. Is that the best resource out there? Do we still have this need? Yes, we absolutely

116still have the need to see what children are doing online. But, you know, there was a different tool, so we shifted to that tool. That also gives families access to be able to see what kids are doing online. Um, you know, we've done some learning opportunities, but we we need to do more, so I'm going to talk about that in a second. And then Parent Square, you know, that was that's a big shift. That is a great tool when we talk about how do we use technology to help bring people together in ways that we couldn't necessarily do. Parent Square has been a game changer. Everything we send from there can be translated into different languages based on a family's need. And and the fact that we have so many different languages, it's really nice

117to know that families can get what they need from communication from us. Um, but I, you know, I'm thinking about cuz uh, Ben was at my table and at our last meeting uh, I we were going through some things and I just remember him being like, "Gosh, I wish I knew that." And one of the things that came out of that conversation for me was we, and I'm going to speak for myself, need to do a better job being public with families about some of the things that we have here, what our guidance and recommendations are. IXL was a hot topic every single session and people were talking about how their kids are on this platform for an 40 minutes an hour. It's 10 minutes. That's been our guidance. It's our guidance and our documentation

118for teachers. It's our guidance for homework. But that's been incumbent on us as a district to do a better job of communicating with families of what's our recommendation and why is it our recommendation? And what's the purpose of it? And what are we doing with it? And so, I thought that that was a really great insight because I was like, we can we can and should do better and we will. And so, thinking about family partnership, there's a piece of communication and how can we be not just more communication in one way, but how can we be having those conversations? Um, but then what else? And I think some of it is there's a lot of conversation in our community and beyond about technology looks like in schools. And so, um, some of the ways

119that we want to partner is number one, you know, bringing in people like Dr. Heitner to talk about what's the reality of the experiences for kids in a digital world. Um, and how can she talk about that with families with it, um, you know, staff, with teachers. How do we have that collective conversation because we all have that shared piece of responsibility. And then, um, on May 6th, we're going to be hosting a viewing of the movie Like. And it's about exactly what it sounds like. It's that what happens with that dopamine hit with kids on social media and what happens when people, you know, like things, when they engage with you on there, what's happening to people in their brains and specifically what's happening for our our adolescents. And so, we're going to be

120having those conversations. Um, so, you know, we go to the next slide. Um, I think you know, we have I think we've made, you know, we've obviously things have changed drastically since COVID. Um, and I think that this is a really good time for the collective reflection that we have done and reviewing what we've been doing and having these conversations, um, and reconsidering. And so, we're really considering this a refresh, and that means all hands on deck. It means all of, you know, kind of the the legs of this chair that support our students having these conversations, working together to move in tandem to to do right by our kids. Um but I think what, you know, is really exciting is we have very thoughtful guidelines now of what we want out of for our

121children leaving District 15. And if those things can guide us just like the portrait of a graduate does, I think it helps us be more intentional when we ask ourselves questions of is what we're doing getting to to children being able to leave us with those competencies. Um so, this has been a really fun and um engaging group. It's we met in the evening. It was bad weather, I think, every time. Um but it was really great conversations every time, and I and I think we all left with a lot to think about and realized that we're all really grappling with the same thing. So, we're really excited to think about how to how to take those things and move forward together. >> Yeah. And we really do want to thank the Board of Education,

122uh Dr. Hines, uh for your continued support and for your commitment for future-ready education for our students. Um so, we can take questions. >> Also, sorry. Shout-out. I just want to shout-out um you know, our our panel here, and they're three representatives of a whole group. I mean, parents, teachers, everybody's working during the day and was coming late at night to have these conversations, and so it just says a lot about our community uh that people were willing to show up, and we had so many people who wanted to be part of this. Um and so, I'm just I thank you guys so much and for coming and speaking so eloquently both on those all of those evenings and here tonight. It's It's been a really awesome process. >> You you had mentioned people being

123on IXL. What What exactly is that? >> Deep breath. IXL So, IXL is an ONLINE IT'S 10 MINUTES, RIGHT? It is an online platform where it gives kids like a diagnostic assessment of on-grade level math skills. in the way that we use it. And it says, "Here are the ones that you're secure on. Here's the ones that you're not secure on, but here's the level for if you're not secure, where you're kind of hitting the ceiling right now." And it in 10 minutes, what it does then when you practice is it gives you questions that are very specific to the skills that you still need to work on, and it does some re-teaching. But it's 10 minutes. That's what a skill and drill is supposed to be. The data Right, it's kind of like that

124tap. It's meant to be very quick and and, you know, give you practice. But the data it gives is similar to what GMS was talking about. It tells the teacher specifically, not only what the student needs to work on, but then it tells them how they're doing as they practice. So, we have schools, GMS being one of them, um that takes that data, and then they form small groups to say, "Ooh, I noticed this group of kids needs a little bit more support in whatever this math topic is." But here's the thing about IXL. It's kind of gamified, so you you know, you can earn points in the arena. And you have some kids that are like, "I want to be at the top of the leaderboard." So, they sit on it for an hour.

125It doesn't really change the trajectory of where you're headed uh with your math knowledge as much because you're missing the re-teach or connection with the human. Um the kids get really into it, so it sometimes gets used a little bit more than it needs to. >> Okay. So, are there like hard limits you can put into it on daily use? >> Well, so we have guidelines. We say 10 minutes. >> No, you mean like will it turn off? >> Yeah, will it >> Oh, will it turn off? No. >> You know, just shut it off where it's like, "Okay, >> the power. No, unfortunately >> it has been reached today, you know. See you tomorrow." >> It is. Once we communicate more clearly with parents because every time we say it to a parent group,

126they're like, "What? Just 10 minutes?" And we're like, "10 minutes." "My kids are on it for an hour." Okay, well, mom, dad, whomever uh is your is your guardian at at the house, it's 10 minutes. So, we need the parents to partner and kind of monitor how long they've been on the device on that IXL and then when time's up, time's up. >> Yeah. And this does speak to um the need to communicate those sorts of limits and those sorts of purposes, right? Your student is going to be doing this for this purpose for this long. Um it also speaks to uh and I can't tell you how many times parents have said, "Oh, yeah, I remember that email about Securely Home." And yes, that is a tool that parents can use to to set

127limits on how long they're on the device and you can shut off the internet completely from it. Um so, it you have a lot of tools at home as well uh to be able to shape that home experience with the device. >> Correct. >> Yeah, okay. Thanks. >> Mhm. >> And can I just add thank you so much to that for the parents that came out. I love that the conversation is really centered around everybody's perspective so that we can have a a broader um you know, implementation throughout all of the schools. So, thank you so much. I think this is the first time I've ever heard that we've pulled in other members of the community and and so if we could do that so much more you know, I think it would be wonderful.

128I know we have parents as partners, but I love that in in order to implement this um to hear your points of view. I think I've said it million times over that without community we cannot solve the world's problems. We've got to do this together. We don't do it together we'll never do it. So I appreciate the the time that you guys put into it and I appreciate the word that we're saying that we're being intentional about how we use technology. You know, so thank you. >> I whispered to Sam with that intentional slide I'm like I love love love. I think maybe three or four loves the slide. Like I right? Yep. She did. She said I love love love. That's a direct quote. I had a question on I really appreciated that it

129was anchored in our portrait of a graduate and I think that's just such a strong way for us to make sure that it's rooted into the district. So really loved that. I was curious about how we layer in you know, we have the competency piece and then there's also the technical skill ability. So how are we thinking about the layering in? I know there was the digital citizenship but I think it goes even beyond that. So how are we thinking about the digital skill building that's going to be required of our students especially now. >> Yeah, exactly and Amelia had referred to that crosswalk that we're having to do and then as well I mean it's funny cuz Carrie Ann and I were already like how do we workshop this? How do we you know,

130how do we bring these kind of ideas to our you know, a miss our teachers right? And so capitalizing on some of this PLC time you know, sharing different ways that teachers have been using the different skills right? And even you know, work shopping it a little bit in terms of like hey you know, I excel reminding you hey remind your parents 10 minutes only or they're only do you know so it is it's going to be a great great work. This is the kind of work I love like just to see how we can capitalize on the technology resources on the instructional practice and how those two converge and have those ongoing conversations around it. >> I also think there's a piece of working backwards, right? You know, talking about knowing what is expected

131of kids at the collegiate level, knowing what is expected of them at the high school level. You know, even just knowing like we have the state assessment coming up. Writing is done digitally and it's timed. And so if you don't have proficiency in being able to type your thoughts that that's you're not going to your score is not going to show it, right? And so there are pieces that you know, what are really the expectations put upon kids that we may not even have control over but then working backwards from that, right? Just because they have to type their answer and doesn't mean that we need to type everything in. Being able to write is important. So it's those types of things where we're going to need to work backwards to see like what are

132expectations of kids and then how are we already working towards them because we do have so much in place but then where are some of those holes that we can be more intentional about like oh, this could be a good place or maybe this essay we type and this one we don't. I mean even things just like that where we can provide more guidance to help you know, cut out some of the gray area of it. >> So when we think about the you know, institute days next year and the learning collaboratives which will be the 30 minutes that were we have a new way in which we're going to try to deliver professional development through the day because every other basically winds up being every other Friday we have a a staff meeting or

133some district time. It's really not enough to professionally develop teachers, change practice, roll out something new. So, we're looking for ways over Institute Day to work with teachers so they start to understand this because just like we said that the magic and the data starts to move when teachers get involved at at the classroom or building level, the same thing in terms of operationalizing technology because I walk through I'm in classrooms a lot. I walk through classrooms and I send pictures. I'm like, "This this the kids have been on on the computer for an hour in this classroom." Like I've been here or or they haven't or I've seen a nice balance or whatever it might be. We need to use the time that we have with our teachers that might have to unlearn some

134of their practices that they've developed since COVID. So so that's where our work to really operationalize this moving into the future is is going to be spent at Institute Days helping teachers do that, learning collaborative, but then also as Emily showed that really little picture of scopes and sequences, the instructional minute allocations. Those are also tools for teachers so they know what to teach. They're going to embed, you know, which lessons might be strong with technology, which should be more paper pencil. So, we get to that first, you know, level of intentionality so things are balanced. Our board policy speaks to a curricular balance. When we teach, whether it's history or whatnot, we we're in the middle rail. We're we're it's a balanced approach. We don't take one side or the other. We're straight down

135the middle. And and technology or, you know, going old school, I love to write in a notebook. Like I don't like to type my notes. But how do we make sure that kids can do both of those things? And we're going to get really explicit with our staff so they know because we have some teachers that love tech love tech, are afraid of tech, and some are right in the middle. So, we're going to take some of that gray area out for our teachers as well. >> And those are conversations that we've already started. So, like it I I brought some examples, right? But like our middle school science curriculum is an all digital curriculum. And we knew going through the process we didn't want something all digital. Now, it's science so it's really hands-on,

136but it was missing the paper pencil of engaging with tech engaging with text and being able to annotate. And so, we've been working so shout out to our middle school middle school science people and Kristen Orlando. They've been building a science binder that corresponds to the learning and activities that are happening in the science class. So, kids have access to things digitally. They can go refer to it, but they can physically annotate it in here and have it with them. They can do the experiments in a hands-on manner. And so, those are part of the conversations that we have during institute days, during team meetings of what what is working. You know, the teachers will say sometimes that the you know, I'm thinking middle school ELA. Some of them are like, at some point I

137just need to go to the workbook because I need them off the screens. And And so, we volley back and forth. >> Yeah, go for it. >> I was just going to say how I heard the question, too. Um I think as the the group came together talking about specific technologies and the skill sets, we saw them represented in those six um components. It was less learn Excel or learn Google Sheets or learn whatever. It's learn how to learn in a digital space and mess around with the technology was more of what collectively the group was talking about. And there were some some people who at their careers are in tech and they're saying, "Don't learn the tech, learn the skill set to learn the tech." That was what they were pushing us and I

138think that's how I heard the question. And there was something we were talking about as in smaller groups and as a whole. So, just wanted to share that as well. >> No, I appreciate that. >> Yeah. >> Um cuz that was going to My other question was going to be around how this connects to the AI guidance that we've developed within the district and how are we thinking about evolving that and layering those skills and competencies, which I know are very similar to what's on here. I imagine and a huge part of it, but >> Yeah. >> it's just changing so rapidly. So, how are we >> so rapidly. >> we're staying on top of that. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, capitalizing on all of these critical conversations that we can have around how to deliver

139instruction, and then uh help helping our staff understand how to use the technology tools strategically for themselves, right? Or in the midst of instruction. Um so, when we held our institute day this past uh January. I was going to say July, but January. Um you know, offering uh offering ways and opportunities for uh teachers to start to learn how to use the tool and start to capitalize on I mean, we uh I I led a session all about feedback, right? And giving feedback to students quickly so that they can respond and learn, right? From their mistakes, from from what they're understanding. Um and how do they use technology to do that? Uh the teachers were eating it up because it was going to help them uh be able to give feedback to their students rather

140really quickly. Um and and and be able to spend spend more one-on-one in in-class time to like talk through it, to to coach a kid uh through their mistakes or through what they needed to learn. Um and how they could use and model AI to do that, right? And so, allowing our teachers that kind of time, that kind of space to be able to start to play around with that. Um we're looking forward to next January with our K-5 teachers. Um and I mean, this will be an ongoing thing. Yeah. For sure. For sure. And we're having to do that now because AI is going to change the way we work and already has. Um and so, trying to figure out how to use it um with intention, and how to use it uh with

141integrity, right? Uh and how to use it in an integrated way. So, yeah. >> Dr. Hines learned how to use some AI this week thanks to Dr. Lizotte. You're like, "I GOT ALL THESE PEOPLE TELLING >> I I love to learn new things, but I'm like, I can think for myself, thank you. I don't need AI to do it for me. >> See, you had mentioned about uh kids typing and writing and how if they're able to type well, that can be advantageous to them. Do we actually have like integrated typing classes for the kids and at what a grade if if so, do we have those grades like you know I mean, did you typing properly, you know, it's like the old school you use all your fingers and it makes a big difference.

142>> That's an example though, Frank, if I may, when I was visiting a classroom, I think I sent it to MJ or maybe Emily or both, cuz one of the teachers had, you know, kids on like the home row, the kids were typing, they weren't using the home row and I said the same thing. I said, "I know we don't have this program in in school, right?" So, the teacher was kind of doing it on their own and I said, "This is an opportunity for us to to figure out where we're going to embed >> the skill piece. That's what I was trying to get to. It's like there is >> It's just like teaching a kid how to how to write properly, you know, how to hold a pencil properly, which honestly I've seen

143that lacking in our education. I've seen kids gripping a you know a pencil like this, you know, or pen like this like they got it in their fist and they're writing and it's like all right, something got missed here a long time ago. So, but I you know, again, it you know, taking high school typing back when I was a kid, now you know, kids will sometimes watch me at the computer like, "Wow, you you type really fast like that." And I'm like, "Yeah, that's the way you're supposed to type." It's like instead of them just pecking away. >> That's That goes to the competencies and like the skills that are needed for So, we are going Yeah, we need to as we do a curriculum review of like what are the learning targets we

144have for kids, we're going to have to backwards map and say, are we addressing some of these? And my guess is no. This is a great example. Typing isn't one of them. So, what are we going to do about it? >> Yes, and incorporating, you know, thoughts from uh OTs and PTs about that whole um progression of learning learning handwriting, learning to write, learning cursive, and then learning keyboarding, right? Cuz all three skills are going to be necessary to achieve those traits. That gets back to again the slide that I love, developmentally appropriate because everything has a one at least one line that can link to to one of these, you know, big three um under intentionality. What What is it developmentally appropriate to teach printing, you know, slants and slopes with cursive, and like

145you said, the keyboard? And then instructional allocations in terms of minutes, like where's the time coming from? You know, that that's a whole 'nother ballgame cuz we really already don't have a long enough chunk of time each day to to do all the many things we want to do, but >> Before we close out, I do want to give a shout out to um Dr. Murray's eighth grade uh Plum Grove ELA class because we talked about the cell phone policy a little bit tonight. They had to write an opinion piece, uh and their opinion piece was on not enjoying the the cell phone policy, but uh I think was just a great example of some of these competencies that we want to be true in our students and for them to write about why they

146feel that that's an ineffective policy for them. Um it was interesting to read their arguments, so >> then when I communicated with the teacher, I said, "Do they know about the governor's you know, latest legislation?" It may just be not Dr. Hines that THEY'RE MAD AT. YEAH, BUT IT WAS REALLY COOL TO TO SEE THAT in practice. Yeah. All right. Thank you so much. >> And thank you >> Yes. >> all of you for your participation, Carrie Ann. >> And for another late night. >> Yes, thank you. >> Worth it. Worth it. >> Okay. All right. If we go to slide 12, I'm going to pause through my report. Cuz it is getting late. Okay. Um I'm going to zip through my superintendent report. Um we've completed summative evaluations. It's the the Tis the season

147of our principals and then our principals do that with our APs. We had our Parents as Partner and the Superintendents Communication Council meetings since we last got together. Um legislative work continues on House Bill 910. That has to do with the mega pilot legislation and the work with the Bears. Um that that continues. We've met with our lobbyists. We've met with the tax attorney. Um we continue to work with the villages around language within House Bill 910. We just keep refining the language um to just make sure that it meets our needs, that the school districts are um kind of protected and and thought about as as you know, hopefully this bill passes to you know, keep the Bears um in Illinois versus uh Indiana. And then transition work. So I'm working on mapping my

148kind of monthly work. What do I do every month? >> I hyperlinking. >> Um everything. So when Dr. Smith comes in, he's coming April 2nd, right after spring break. We'll have a luncheon um with our leadership group and then he and I will spend the better part of that day. And then once we get together on April 2nd, we'll figure out what what the cadence will be in terms of how much time you know, he wants to spend with me. Sam, uh Dana and I will spend you know, a meeting together and then we'll figure out school visits and community visits and all of that you know, in April or May. So, just more to come on that, but it it is uh well underway. Um Sherri at Administrative Services also completed the summit of

149unveils as did Mindy for her special education staff. Uh planned and rolled out pilot bus ID pad badges. Uh our kids will have badges to get on and off buses, so parents will know in real time their kids are on the bus, what bus, you know, where the bus is. So, that's going to be nice. We're going to use it for library. We're going to use it for the lunchroom. All the things. I We've I've wanted this to happen for several years. I'm so excited. We have pilots going on this spring. So, the badges will We're are really going to help us um with with everything that the kids are going to need to do. They'll wear little lanyards and um we're going to get that rolling this spring. Work out any kinks this spring

150with a small number of schools and then launch it in the fall. Reunification planning is underway with these five schools. We have an internal planning team. Uh we have relocation well in hand. Relocation is if we really had or reunification rather is if we had a significant crisis. And we you know, kind of a a very, you know, a God forbid type of a situation in the district, what is our reunification plan? How do we link parents up with kids? How do we manage the crisis? How do we manage the emotions around the crisis? So, these five schools will will go through the drill where parent volunteers The parents can sign up to be volunteers to help us work through the plan. Um we'll have select number of students and staff do it on on

151a smaller scale, not the whole building. Just so the each school team starts to learn about what reunification looks like and what the different roles are to make it smooth and seamless and important. So, then at the end of the year, we'll have six schools that have gone through it. Next year, it'll be another five or so or six or however many they decide to do. So, within the next few years, all of our schools will have practiced reunification um fully. And then uh planning for the onboarding of the new school principals. Um We have administrative We have AP think tanks uh for new APs. We have um I can I'm glad you're here, Sherry. We have AP think tanks that we started about probably 4 years ago now where we train our new assistant

152principals. We put them through the paces in terms of, you know, what are the managerial type tasks that an assistant principal needs to learn, right? And then we have our more veteran assistant principals helping to to onboard the new assistant principals. They have um job-alike mentors. So, we spend a lot of time training our new assistant principals. Just like we have new staff orientation and we mentor our new teachers, we mentor our new assistant principals. Four or five years ago, we decided we made an intentional, my new favorite word, decision about a grow-your-own administrative pipeline. In a district of this size, we certainly can look outside. We've chosen to to uh mentor and coach up the staff that we have. So, when we have openings, we have people ready. Don't think just because there's other

153people doing principalship work or assistant principalship work in another district that they're going to come in and do it any better than the staff that we have in our district. We've invested a ton of time. So, we onboard our assistant principals year after year. Angela Gayoso, second year at GMS, she was an assistant principal. She was a sped coordinator. She was an assistant principal. She's a principal. Jason Chris, Jack Olson. Oh, I could I mean, the list goes on. Jen Riemann. So many of our principals started as assistant principals and we promote them. So, we also do that. We train our principals intentionally. We have month to month. They meet twice a month. They have job-alikes. They have mentors from North Cook, members of cabinet, myself. We train our principals. So, we're onboarding our two

154new principals that were assistant principals that we were proud to promote, that worked hard to be promoted. Brienne, who was was here last month, she's going to be the new principal um I'm drawing a blank at Whittier, thank you. And Andrew at at Pleasant Hill. So, we are proud of the fact that we have a grow your own and they are ready to be principals. So, we want them to be successful and we believe very strongly that they will. So, we're working with our two new principals. We've already started to meet with them to help them learn the differences between being an assistant principal and being a principal. That will go on all spring, it will go on in the summer, and they will have mentors both J.W. from District 15 veteran principals. They'll have

155someone from outside the district and again our whole leadership team serves to mentor one another. And again, this is a grow your own district. That doesn't mean we're never going to search outside the district for people, but when we have an opportunity to promote the people that have worked hard and that already know a lot about District 15 and the way in which we do things, we're going to we're going to take every opportunity to promote them and we're proud of that uh that thought process. Uh business and operations, they're monitoring cash flow due to Cook County's continued delays for the uh for property tax distribution. We were on a call um this week with um uh President Preckwinkle's office. She was not on the call, but members of her staff were on the call.

156It was another frustrating and uneventful um meeting, sadly. But, we continue to um you know, put pressure on to make sure not only that we're fully paid for this year, but that they have a plan to make sure that the property tax bills and the monies that we are entitled to, that the taxpayers pay, that you know, are supposed to flow to the district or any other any other body that gets monies through Cook County come on time. We continue now to press on how will we be made whole. Again, you've heard us say this was over it cost us over $2 million because they couldn't get these property tax bills out on time. $2 million. So, where is that money coming from? How are we being repaid? Other districts have lost varying amounts. We're

157most focused on District 15, but there's a coalition that met with Preckwinkle's office because really at the end of the day the buck stops with her. We we're asking for a forensic audit of, you know, with Pappas' work we're asking for assurances that they have fixed this problem and that we're never going to see this and then we're asking how will you make us whole? Where is this money coming from? The audit will hopefully show that the banks and whomever else benefited from the interest income because they have the money in their coffers because the community, all of us, paid our taxes. The money's sitting in their bank account accruing interest. We want them to use that interest to pay us so we we're not at a loss. So, that was a big part. Diana

158and I were have been on numerous calls every single week, you know, fighting this fight. Um and she and I were both on several calls this week around this uh this topic. But, they're monitoring so we know when we're fully whole in terms of property taxes owed. Uh they're finalizing bids for summer facility improvements. Once again, we're going to have a lot of summer work um taking place. We shared projects with Parents as Partners. We shared with Superintendent Communication Council. I believe the board heard the projects uh when we did the financial forecasting. So, the bids are coming in so the work can uh start right when school ends. And then the SEIU, as you know, we we um ratified their contract and their new salaries and the business department has been calculating the retro

159pay because their contract technically ended at the end of last school year. So, that has been a lot of work, but I I think we've got it all ironed out. They've all received their retro pay and now they're they're making their new their new salaries. Um so, that's great. Communication, um they're producing celebrating 80 years of growth video. I love the the hype. So, thank you. The crazier the idea the that the better. Um I hope you're all coming to the gala. >> Thank you. >> Good. Buy your ticket if you haven't, please please do so. It's it's really going to be a fantastic time. We had another meeting this morning. Um and we have a lot of a lot of exciting things in store. So, please come. It's for a great cause. Ticket costs

160really we got cotillion down 80. We did it for our 80th birthday, but that ticket price covers your food, your drink, the the rental of the facility, and then every other penny that we make is going to our our feed 15 initiative. So, there's no better cause um in our opinion. So, hopefully everybody can come at the board table and out in the community. Uh reunification communication kits are being developed for buildings. So, the communication department is working on that. So, staff know exactly what to do when they're practicing reunifications or in the unfortunate event that we need to reunify, um people will know what to communicate and and everything else that they need to do. And then gala preparation. There is a website page and they're developing content as we continue to meet and

161and fine-tune the event. Ed services, why is my screen so small? Um launched the recognition programs to promote adoption of restaurate restorative practices. That continues to take place. Developing bus specific student behavior focused training for staff to promote safety. We tell kids that the bus is a continuation of the school and then all the same rules apply, but you have a bus driver that's looking straight ahead and you've got a bunch of kids behind the driver. So, it's incumbent upon the kids to know how to behave and hopefully behave when there aren't adults directly looking at them. They're leading district wide administration and data collection for the Illinois Youth Survey, which is a survey that we're having our older kids fill out this year. And then they've launched an improved student absence marking system within

162PowerSchool. Uh human resources finalizing the initial staffing configurations. They've prepared honorable dismissal and renewal categories, um some of which you'll see in your the personnel report for tonight, and then we're actively recruiting um for the upcoming school year. Uh last I heard we have did not have to riff anybody, so no reduction in force. So through attrition resignation release uh we have no riffs. So we're we're pretty excited about that. Um multilingual completed 2026 access testing. Tell me again how many assess 12 12,000? Over 12,000 tests were administered during access, so they're done. Renee is and her team are silently cheering as our teachers that have to help administer those tests. Uh they've hosted impact meetings, summer enrichment, and opportunities for language development. Uh ongoing planning for a multilingual family math nights, you can see

163Ukrainian, Russian, uh Tamil, Telugu, Japanese, uh Spanish. Um so there's a lot of math energy going around with with multilingual and bringing our families together with students to learn around math. They're preparing dual language enrollment. The application deadline is just a few days away. The only time you can apply for dual language is if you have an incoming kindergartner. So we want to make sure that everybody knows um uh so if you have any friends or neighbors with littles that are coming to district 15 in kindergarten, please let them know if they're interested they have just a few days to apply. Um and then if the classes are filled by lottery. And then uh the department continues to provide training for EL blended teachers on language targets and collaborative scoring for writing. Uh student services,

164they're working on recruitment for the upcoming school year. They're working on budget planning through their IDEA grant, um and really figuring out how best to use those dollars especially as the overall budget is is tight. Um extended school year ESY planning is underway and preschool program descriptions and just in general we continue to focus on moving away from the center and bringing, you know, early childhood and preschool under the District 15 auspices. So, that uh is is continued work that we're doing. Mindy and I are hoping to meet with um the new director over uh uh of the center because we have uh just a few things related to the budget and next year that we're we're trying to finalize. Uh teaching, learning, and assessment AP think tanks, those are our assistant principals where they're

165learning about instructional road maps and how to use them. So, when they're in classrooms, whether it's for formal uh observations or informal observations, they understand what road maps each grade level are using, what tools they're supposed to be teaching, and and what targets. So, this is just another example of of how we are coaching up our APs to be ready to become principals uh or just to do their job even if they don't want to become principals, just to really grow into their roles as an AP. Uh they're planning and um the assessment support for IAR, ISA, and the five essential surveys. So, that's your, you know, ELA assessment, that's your science assessment. Um that'll be happening soon. They're partnering with the three feeder high schools around ELA and just to make sure that our

166kids are really, you know, ready. And then where will our kids land when they go from eighth grade to their freshman year in terms of placement. We're already planning back to school for the 2026 school year, new staff orientation in August institute days. Departments are really thinking about link to the strategic plan and other work that we have to do, what are, you know, all of the things that we're going to want to try to cover. Um and this time of year we're always straddling the year we're in and and planning for next year. And then they're partnering with instructional technology around updated guidelines based on the technology and learning focus groups uh sessions that you heard about tonight. Uh technology partnering and I just said it, but they both in reverse. Teaching and learning

167and tech are working together on that. They're implementing, as you heard, securely classroom tools district-wide and launching the exploration of securely AI chat at the middle school level, which Sam was inquiring about. Uh that bullet point is is really something, the third one that our cabinet is doing and then they're wrapping up e-rate bids and planning for summer work to be done on our infrastructure and technology. So, that is just a snapshot of what we've been up to since the last time the board was together. Any questions for me? No. Okay. Thank you. Some Okay. Acceptance of the minutes, item 6.1. May I have a motion, please? >> I move to approve the minutes of the February 9th, 2026 regular Board of Education meeting and closed session meeting as attached. >> Second. >> Discussion? All

168in favor? >> Aye. Motion carries. All right. Board committee reports, Ed Red, Frank. >> Okay. So, the the Senate nears its committee deadlines of March 13th to get their bills out of committee. The House went on break February 27th and they'll be reconvening on March 18th. Um, there is a bill under consideration in the state legislator legislature, HB 4416, which is unemployment for ESPs. Now, this legislation is an initiative of organized labor that would allow educational support personnel to receive unemployment benefits during school breaks longer than 1 week. And this is a primarily targeting summer break. So, this would significantly increase unemployment insurance costs for school districts. Um, just in our district alone, I mean, we have 600 ESPs and if you do the math, that would come out to them probably getting somewhere between

169costing the district somewhere between 2 and 3 million dollars. So, that's a known thing that's going to be happening every year. Then that just would become an additional cost that unemployment insurance would put onto the districts cuz they know it's going to be going out every year. So, that's uh that's something that we um yes, we don't really want that. That'd be uh expensive. Anyways, then we got the Illinois mega projects bill as you mentioned, that's a house bill 910. That's designed to assist the new Chicago Bears stadium and also other future large projects which are over $500 Um it's advanced out of the house revenue and finance committee. And the bill uh passed the house committee at a 13 to 7 vote. But uh the lawmakers departed Spring Foot Field without a full floor

170vote, so the bill is expected to uh face some further revisions uh due to concerns that, you know, all the representatives and and and uh senators have and hopefully they can get something uh amended and then put on the floor for a a complete vote. And then one last uh bill that's a little bit interesting is uh house bill 4399 which has to do with uh biodiesel use. And this bill would require public government agencies to start using a minimum blend of B10 bio diesel fuel in the winter and B20 in the fall. Um this is something that I'm not sure how that would actually affect our transportation department. Um and we use a lot of gasoline buses, but we also do have some some diesels. So, >> And then we have our our our

171electric buses. >> We do our electric They're they're not online yet though, are they? >> We have one here not online yet. Four here now and one coming. We were supposed to have four in February, one in March. We had one Sorry, we had one in >> February and now we have four in March, but they're all all five are here. >> Do I Do we know how many diesel buses we have? >> No, diesel buses. >> Four are here. Four electric buses. >> Electric buses, but I'm just curious if we have any diesel. >> diesel buses. >> I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. It might be good just to find out, you know, how this might affect us. It might be like a zero effect or it might be something

172that's like This is This is going to be a pain in our, you know, for our guys to manage. I mean, this is something that's being pushed by the soybean association. So, I mean, yeah. Imagine that. So, anyways, that's about it. >> All right. Thank you, Frank. 15 Foundation, Eric. >> Uh yeah, we're on our final drive for the 50/50 raffle. The deadline is next week on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th at 8:00 a.m. You can still purchase your ticket on the 15 Facebook page. The drawing will be online done online then. The pot right now is, drum roll, please. >> Says the drummer. >> Yes, I know. I wanted someone else to do it. 18,300 right now. So, there's still time to raise that in the next week. So, you can purchase your tickets

173and get that going. Our next meeting is next week and we're starting to plan for teacher and staff appreciation things for the end of the school year. >> Amazing. 18,000 is a lot of money. All right. Finance Committee, Wenda and Lisa. >> We have no new updates here for, but since we don't have one, I just wanted to remind everyone that early voting is now and March 17th is also the day of our primary. So, make your plans now. >> We're going to be doing that day. >> Awesome. All right. Equity Committee, Jim or Zubair. >> We did not have a chance to meet this month, but like we mentioned, we have We definitely have shared notes from Lori and then we had As Zubair mentioned last month, we had the a really great kind

174of agenda, if you will, of what we have planned out for this year. Just to to physically take action this month was next to impossible. >> So, the next thing that we're going to do is I've shared our notes from our meeting with like with Emily and Renee because a lot of what we were talking about had to do with our departmental work. We'll get >> Clara and to her >> work with everyone's calendar to try to find the time, you know, to get together and have Renee come in for a while, have Emily come in, anyone else that needs to rotate in based on maybe because some of it was >> based on our meeting and with the things that we said we wanted to do etc. >> So we just need to we

175just need to get our calendars together. So Clara will reach out and >> Yeah. >> and we'll get that we'll get that scheduled. >> up that we're excited about that. >> Our favorite thing to do. All right, great. Thank you. Uh moving on to action items, item 8.1, may have a motion, please? >> I move to approve the resolution for a non-renewal of administrator contract and honorable dismissal dismissal of teacher for Julie Crawford as presented. >> Second. >> All right, discussion. Roll call. >> Eder. >> Aye. >> I mean no. >> Aye. >> Taylor. >> Aye. >> Shubai. >> Aye. >> Cohen. >> Aye. >> Bagman. >> Aye. >> Hunt. >> Aye. >> All right, I was told we are going to skip 8.2 and move to 8.3. May have a motion for item 8.3.

176>> I move to approve the resignation agreement and general release for Matt Starry as presented. >> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Shubai. >> Aye. >> Cohen. >> Aye. >> Bagman. >> Aye. >> Hunt. >> Aye. >> Eder. >> Aye. I mean no. >> Aye. >> Taylor. >> Aye. >> All right, motion carries. Item 8.4. >> I move to approve the March 11, 2016 personnel report including the following recommendations, recommendation for termination for Melissa Wozniak as presented. >> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Khan. >> I. >> Bachmann. >> I. >> Hunt. >> I. >> Hader. >> I. >> Honorino. >> I. >> Taylor. >> I. >> Shoopai. >> I. >> Motion carries. Item 8.5. >> I move to award a 3-year contract for unleaded gasoline fuel to Osco Inc., Minooka, Illinois. Or is that

177Minooka? >> It's Minooka. >> Minooka. Okay. Ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel to Colonial Oil Enterprises, Savannah, Georgia, and diesel exhaust fluid to Is that A.I. Warren? Or is it Al Warren? >> Al Warren. >> Ha, you never know. Al Warren Oil Company Inc., Hammond, Indiana, as presented. DENIED. >> OH MY GOSH. >> ALL RIGHT, ON THAT NOTE. ALL RIGHT, DISCUSSION OTHER than who put IT IN. >> YEAH. >> ALL RIGHT, roll call. >> Bachmann. >> I. >> Hunt. >> I. >> Hader. >> I. >> Honorino. >> I. >> Taylor. >> I. >> Shoopai. >> I. >> Khan. >> I. >> All right, motion carries. Item 8.6. >> I move to award the Hunting Ridge parking lot improvement project to Carmichael Construction for the base bid of $27,685 as presented. >> Second. Discussion? Roll call. >> Hunt.

178>> I. >> Hader. >> I. >> Honorino. >> I. >> Taylor. >> I. >> Shoopai. >> I. >> Khan. >> I. >> Bachmann. >> I. >> Motion carries. Item 8.7. >> I move to award the Kimball Hill parking lot improvements project to M&J Asphalt Paving Incorporated for the base bid of $159,933 as presented. >> Second. >> Discussion? Roll call. >> Ada. >> Aye. >> Anarino. >> Aye. >> Taylor. >> Aye. >> Shoobee. >> Aye. >> Khan. >> Aye. >> Batman. >> Aye. >> Hunt. >> Aye. >> All right. Did we just do 8.7 or 8.8? >> 8.7 already. >> 8.7, okay, that's what I thought. I marked it prematurely. May I have a a motion for 8.8, please? >> I move to award the Lankenau Elementary parking lot improvements project to Patriot Maintenance Inc. for

179the base bid of $58,200 as presented. >> Second. Discussion? Roll call. >> Anarino. >> Aye. >> Taylor. >> Aye. >> Shoobee. >> Aye. >> Khan. >> Aye. >> Batman. >> Aye. >> Hunt. >> Aye. >> Ada. >> Aye. >> Motion carries. Item 8.9. >> I move to award the Marion Jordan parking lot improvements project to Manovol Construction for the base bid of $106,325 as presented. >> Second. >> Discussion? Roll call. >> Taylor. >> Aye. >> Shoobee. >> Aye. >> Khan. >> Aye. >> Batman. >> Aye. >> Hunt. >> Aye. >> Ada. >> Aye. >> Anarino. >> Aye. >> All right, motion carries. Item 8.10. >> I move to award the Stewart Paddock parking lot improvements project to Echelon Contracting LLC for the base bid of $131,870 as presented. >> Second. >> Discussion? >> I I

180just have one quick question with all these uh paving projects at all the different schools and all the different contractors, uh I why how come one company doesn't do all of them? And maybe a I just an uh >> It has to do with this next sheet, the bid award process. >> Okay. >> And and how they're awarded. If Diane, if you want to talk, you have to come to the microphone. >> I don't have to clarify. The right specification. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> That was a good question. I asked THAT LAST TIME. >> BLESS you again. >> I usually sneeze. >> All right. Roll call. >> Shoop I. >> I. >> Khan. >> I. >> Bachmann. >> I. >> Hunt. >> I. >> Ader. >> I. >> Anarino. >> I. >>

181Taylor. >> I. >> All right. Motion carries. Item 8.11. >> I move to award the Walter R. Sundling bus lot improvement project to M&J Asphalt Paving Incorporated for the base bid of $289,266 as presented. >> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Khan. >> I. >> Bachmann. >> I. >> Hunt. >> I. >> Ader. >> I. >> Anarino. >> I. >> Taylor. >> I. >> Shoop I. >> I. >> All right. Motion carries for the consent calendar. Would anyone like to remove anything? Okay. May have a motion, please? >> I move to approve the consent calendar items as presented. >> Second. >> Discussion. Roll call. >> Bachmann. >> I. >> Hunt. >> I. >> Ader. >> I. >> Anarino. >> I. >> Taylor. >> I. >> Shoop I. >> I. >> Khan. >> I. >> All

182right. Correspondence. >> Uh you have, as always, uh in your packet, the FOIA's that our office has received. Do you have any questions on what has been requested? No? They continue to just come in at them. Be a >> Yeah. Clara had to spend a week doing Clara. >> I would say you were enjoying >> Genie was on her honeymoon, so >> I was wondering what happened. >> I was wondering where you were. >> Never was anyone so happy to see someone come back from their honeymoon. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. SHE'S COMING TOMORROW. >> ALL RIGHT. May I have a motion to adjourn? >> I move to adjourn. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Meeting adjourned. >> Thank you.