February 2026 BOE Regular Meeting

001that will be happening about our new superintendent. We have put that slightly in the middle of our agenda to give a little bit of breathing room because we had this two ball tournament, which is a obviously a very exciting night for the district, and so wanted to make sure we had some time between so that folks could get over here who would be traveling here from the tournament. All right, so let's go ahead and dig in. We've got our pledge of allegiance from Winston campus. >> [applause] >> Good evening, President Eder, members of the board, Dr. Hines. My name is Kristen DeRienzo. I'm the principal of Winston Campus Elementary School. And I am very proud to recognize our students from our dual language program who exemplify the hard work, dedication, the perseverance it takes to

002develop biliteracy in both English and in Spanish. Participation in a dual language program requires sustained effort, academic commitment, and a willingness to embrace rigorous learning in two languages. This evening, these students will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance as representatives not only of our dual language program, but our entire Winston Campus Elementary School community. Their leadership reflects the values of our program across all grades, K-5, academic excellence, bilingualism, and cultural pride, and we are honored to celebrate them tonight. Let's get started with the 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. Yo prometo lealtad a la bandera de los Estados Unidos y a la república que representa una nación bajo Dios,

003indivisible, con libertad y justicia para todos. THANK YOU. SPECIAL TREAT, A HIGH-FIVE high-letter for doing such a nice job tonight. Can I get you something? Congratulations. Congratulations. You did all right. Yes. You can go ahead. Thank you. Thank you. Now I can Yeah. Okay, we're going to take a photo Take a couple of photos. So, if can look forward to having their picture taken by us. And we're going to say queso. All right, mommies and daddies, can you guys smile up here and take a picture? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I know. I slept those things. Keep smiling. Thank you. I know. I KNOW. THANK YOU FOR COMING, WINSTON. OKAY. All right. Next up, we have student recognition. Our spelling bee winners. Do you want to excuse me? Hello. Hi, President Eder, Superintendent

004Hines, and esteemed members of the Board of Education. It's good to see you all. Um we were talking in the hall and we actually thought before we start celebrating our members of the spelling bee, we thought maybe you guys would want to do a round. Oh my god. Um so I'm just going to throw out three words that these fine students had to spell. abdicate fricassee and Perseid Eric, you screamed. You go for it. Yeah, sure. You're right. >> [laughter] >> Sure. Yes. Say it. Okay, so the word is abdicate. a b d i That is correct. Now Can our spelling bee winners remind Mr. Bachman what you're allowed to ask for? What are some things you can ask for when waiting to spell the word? Definition, in case you need it. Repeat the word,

005in case you're check. Language of origin. Use it in a sentence. That's how I would use that. For it to be used in a sentence. We also have vocabulary rounds and we all learned and I think a lot of the adults who are watching that night learned some new vocabulary terms. So does anybody know what Perseid means? Perseid I have no idea. I do not Something made out of parsley is not even close to what I would have guessed. >> [laughter] >> So, as you can see these students are absolutely worth all of the celebration as they are three winners of OUR [laughter] DISTRICT 2016 SPELLING BEE. SO, THIS YEAR WAS ESPECIALLY meaningful because it is actually the Scripps National Spelling Bee 100th year anniversary. And in honor of that, I think they decided to

006ratchet up the words because they were difficult. Um each year we host spelling bees at the grade level or in classrooms, at the school level, and then at the district level. To make it to our district level, you had to have won your class or grade, your school before coming here. And we had 19 students be able to do that here in District 15. Um the three we have in front of you were our top three. So, I'm going to say their names, they're going to step up just so you can see them. Um but we had in third place, we have Bella, who's a fifth grade student from LAKE LOUISE SCHOOL. IN SECOND PLACE, WE HAVE NORA, a seventh grade student from here at WALTER R. SUNDLING. AND IN FIRST PLACE, WE HAVE ARAV,

007a seventh grade student from Plum GROVE MIDDLE SCHOOL. ALSO, [laughter] THIS IS HIS third year coming to the district spelling bee. So, we're very excited. So, congratulations to those three. Um we are just so appreciative of having this event every year here at the district. We have such a good time. Um it's always fun to watch the families as it's happening because as the words get harder, there's a lot of thinking through it in the audience as well. And you could just tell this year was really hard. Um we want to take a few minutes just to thank a few people who really helped pull this off. We have spelling bee coordinators at every school. We have our district coordinator Julie Crawford, announcer Beth Richter, timekeeper Kate Arenberg. We had judges, Roxanne Raphaelli and Kaylee

008Gearhart, and our technology department, and the custodial staff here at Sunling who just helped make everything run so smoothly. Um so we are incredibly thankful for them. And then we are also grateful for all of the families and friends who help support this on a yearly basis and help practice with our students. So um thank you to all of them. Again, I just want to give a big shout out to these three, to the others students who are able to participate. And in a few weeks, Adam will be representing District 15 at the annual North Cook Scripps Spelling Bee at Lincoln Hall Middle School. So congratulations to all OF OUR SPELLERS. >> [applause] [laughter] >> ALL RIGHT, FAMILY, loved ones, feel free to come up and grab your photo as well. >> [laughter] >> Smile

009for your principals. AMAZING. THAT'S RIGHT. ALL RIGHT. YES, PERFECT. All right. We will now open our meeting for public comment. Public comment is governed by board policy 2:23. Please remember this is not a dialogue between you and the board. If you have a specific issue that requires a response, Superintendent Hines or 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 to 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

010mutual respect, civility, and orderly conduct throughout the meeting. All right. Joyce. Hi. Hello board, superintendent. I just wanted to call the board's attention to some new safe gun storage laws. I know we have a safe gun storage page and it's really important that we share this information. Again, most mass shootings comes from guns within someone's home or from an acquaintance. Suicide attempts with guns are almost always fatal. People generally do not try a second time. Um Um so this basically the new safe gun storage laws require that if there are kids younger than 18 years around that the guns have to be locked up. Um not just put on a shelf or whatever. Um there are fines but the most important thing is safe gun storage saves lives. You know, the fines are you know,

011they're harder to find. You know, it's not like they're going to go looking for it. Um unfortunately, they would find it after a tragedy and we do not want that to happen. So, I'm just going to drop off some flyers. Um I would love it to see it on newsletters or a landing page web page because if it's just buried on a web page, people are probably not going to see it and they won't we won't be able to save lives that way. So, thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Joyce. It goes to All right. Up next, Superintendent reports, Dr. Hines. Okay. It's been another busy month in in District 15. Um in my office, I've been very busy with a bunch of my colleagues and with assistant principal and principal interviews and

012selection. All of our new hires are here tonight and hopefully be approved by the board. So, congratulations in advance of that happening. Um administrative assignment planning and announcements, that takes many months. It's my giant chessboard. Most of my staff hate the charts and post-it notes, but it's how our decisions are made. Um so, there will be as they are are every year, some movements, some new teams being formed because we have new administrators coming into the district. Some programs that may be moving across the district. This I feel like I can't see way down there. >> [laughter] >> So, those letters will be going out towards the end of the week. Staff will hear and then we'll communicate with our families. Um the principals are involved in completing their self-assessments and uh Dr. Lozorn and

013I are working on summative evaluation write-ups for our administrators, our principals. Our principals are doing the same with their assistant principals. Um Cook County tax collection, we had a meeting with Commissioner Britton who reinforced everything we kind of already knew about the unfortunate and frustrating delays to our property tax collection. Um he is very involved in all of that, didn't have really many answers for us, but at least stepped forward to take um ownership somewhat of the delay and to acknowledge that there are impacts to our school systems and ours are financially very steep, $2 million. So, we are continuing to engage with local superintendent coalition, Commissioner Britton, and legal to just see if there's anything that we can't do to not only be made whole with payments and and we're getting close to that

014point where I think we're over 88%. But we also are looking to see if there's anything we can do to recoup the $2 million that we lost whether it was for lost interest earnings, investments that we had to liquidate, or tax objection warrants that we had to issue because there is there are issuance charges, not to mention the the labor cost. It's taking many members of the business office off their normal tasks. And then just a number of superintendent coalition meetings in terms of just strategically trying to plan how we're going to address this ongoing issue. In the administrative service department, staffing meetings with each school. That's also a big thing that HR did. Lisa and Sherry Lisa did a lot of work on that. Sherry's learning the ropes. All of cabinet was in and

015out of those meetings. So, they've met with the 20 principals to talk about staffing allocations for next year. We finalized the SEIU collective bargaining agreement after many many many rounds of negotiation. The board has been asked to approve that tonight. We spoke with you about it in closed session and we hope that that will be a yes. Wanted to just thank the team. And there's a slide later, but while while it's here, I just wanted to thank the SEIU team as well as the members of my team that were on that um that negotiation team. AP think tanks continue to happen to support both new assistant principals as well as our veteran assistant principals and thanks to the veterans that are really helping um build the capacity of our assistant principals. Sherry is also working

016as well as Dr. McGuffin on principal summative evaluations and they had a big reunification planning meeting at Harper College, as you recall. Last year it was Carl Sandburg that went through full reunification aligned to the I Love U Guys Foundation protocols. We now will have five additional schools onboarded this year learning that whole process, bringing a team one school at a time to go through it. And the event we we had a very unfortunate crisis in the district. We want to make sure that we know not only how to relocate, but we also know how to reunify staff, kids, families, and so on and so forth. So, that is underway. It's a very big lift, but it's it's a necessary step to really round out and kind of finalize the things that we're trying to

017do in terms of safety in the district. Business and operations, W-2s and 1099s have been finalized. It's that time of year. They'll go out by the end of the month. Analysis of the five-year financial forecast, which you will hear a presentation on tonight. The facility crew and weather management, boy did we get hit this this year already with a number of snow and cold weather events. So, thanks to the facility crew and all of our custodians, maintenance, and mechanical staffs for everything they do when weather hits. And four of our five electric buses arrived and will go live in February or March. So, as you recall, we are doing a pilot. We have grant funds for five buses and we'll see how they hold up in in cold weather and with our routes. The communication

018department did a lot of work during Institute Day. Remember we had two in January around Parents Square. They've done an analysis of their communication survey and you will hear from them tonight because they have their departmental update this evening. And our 80th birthday gala committee work is well underway. Don't forget, save the date. That is April 10th. Invitations and more information will be coming out in the coming days. We had a a big big meeting last week and and one this morning. In Ed Services, we are strengthening they are strengthening the student behavior support uh through bus bus driver training because we do have kids that either when they're getting picked up from home or they're getting ready to go home, they're not always the most regulated to get on that school bus. We need

019to make sure that our bus staff know exactly what to do to de-escalate that situation before it becomes a dangerous situation. Um early identification of student mental health needs versus the universal screenings are are going out and taking place right now, and that is to make sure that we are aware and have on our radar any students that might need additional support, so our clinician team can provide it. And the district-wide CogAT testing uh practice tests are taking place um now for future uh consideration for our gifted and talented placement. In human resources, as I said a moment ago, those staffing meetings were conducted with building administrators and the district office. Uh they have Lisa has reported they have successfully staffed for the 26-27 school year, and this is huge without a need for a

020district-wide riff. We were holding our breath, so we're very excited. No reduction of workforce needed. Um and then the insurance committee continues to meet. We're we're uh monitoring the plan and reviewing options for the 26-27 school year with the union. Uh multilingual, 2026 ACCESS testing continues. Uh we have the next BPAC meeting scheduled. Um I am an adolescent, understand me please, and you can see the dates. Uh February 19th at Virginia Lake. These meetings are for parents and middle school age children to really learn and engage in those conversations together. Uh dual language information nights for incoming kindergarten families will be taking place on February 4th at Winston, 12th at Jane Addams, and February 26th at Kimball Hill. Um the community registration support that this department continues to provide once registration um goes live is

021is critical, so there's a flyer, so our parents that need help know how to access help. And and that is just critical. Using our bilingual liaisons, but also pushing into the community where our parents can easily gain access to help with online registration. It's It's really helped us over the years get more and more families registered early or at least before school starts. And they are working on the literacy pilot with teaching and learning, and as we've talked to the board about a month or two ago, that the third, fourth, and fifth graders will be participating in that literacy pilot for implementation beginning next year. Uh student services department is continuing vision clinics and CPR classes, preparing for extended school year. It's hard to believe that you've got your foot in two camps right about

022now. You're in this school year, but you're doing a lot of planning for the next school year. Uh program locations and staffing for next year are being discussed and finalized. And uh student services collaborated with the tech department to create new registration processes for our preschoolers, our private parochial and proportionate share uh registrants. So, that is all moving and grooving. Uh teaching, learning, and assessment is the middle school was very focused on the middle school mini conferences held for um when we had uh institute day, two days of institute in January for multilingual, for tech, for social studies, comes, and teaching, learning, and assessment. They're promoting the five essentials. So, anyone listening, if you haven't taken that test, please do. We need um to hear your voices. We would like We need a minimum of

02325% to get a report from the state, but we need so many more voices to weigh in so we really hear from the masses in terms of what it is that they're looking for, what it is that they think we're doing well across those five categories, and where we have some room to grow. Um the district spelling bee is coming up, and you saw our our three wiz spellers here just a few minutes ago. So, we're uh that was exciting, and we're going to see how they do going to North Cook. And then planning the core differentiation within our programs for the 26-27 school year uh continues. And last but not least, and MJ's not here tonight, she's at a tech conference, but with the technology department, they provided professional development and coordination for the

024middle school mini conference. We really customized that professional development for all the different content areas, and that was uh we believe well received. They're ready online registration systems to launch in February, and they're managing projects for 2026-2027 that are currently in in the realm of e-rate. One of Dave's favorite things to do, right, Dave? All right. That's just a small uh >> [laughter] >> sampling of what we've been up to since our last meeting. Any questions for me? No? All right. Wonderful. All right. Thank you, Dr. Hines. We will keep it moving to item 5.1, our 5-year financial forecast. The board has a couple copies at their place. Yeah, you should have a packet there. So, you have the Okay. All right. So, again, I'm Diana McCluskey. I'm the chief school business official, and this

025is Anthony Casella. He's the director of finance for the district. >> So, good evening, President Eder, members of the board, and Superintendent Dr. Hines. We are going to do uh usually it's once a year, sometimes maybe twice a year, present the financial 5-year financial forecast. And so, we'll just go right to the slide. It's hard to read, but you actually can read it. Um Mhm. Yeah, you you actually can see it. >> Hence, if you squint, or maybe you have the paper that you have or binoculars. >> [laughter] >> That's the handout. You got some binoculars. So, um Uh so, Anthony and I will go over the um the uh thought processes and analysis, um and dive into um uh you know, especially into the first and second year the well, 26 we have some

026comments to make about that. And then 27 and 28. Again, a financial projection is is as of today at this moment in time. Um, the farther out you go, you know, the earlier years, uh, we're going to talk a little bit about what we're there's some changes to the 26 budget that we put into the into the forecast tonight. Uh, we don't normally do that, but that we had some unusual circumstances this year, and so we've we've reflected some of that financially in in the first column, which is a little different than the final budget, uh, presented in September. And then 27 is is good is uh, is is is a little more uh, you know, confidence in those numbers. 28, as you get into 29 and 30 and 31, uh, they're they're as good

027as we can forecast at this point in time. There'll be changes between now and then, but this is just mostly to show trends and and and and to give you some thought about where right now it looks like the district could be is heading financially. So, uh, I'm going to Anything else on that? Yeah. So, I'm going to back to the budget for FY 26. The The original budget that was passed in, um, September had a $6.4 million deficit. And there are some material things events that have happened uh, that we're seeing in the in the budget. Um, and so we felt that it would be prudent to adjust these numbers. We don't have uh, you know, a crystal ball to exactly know how the year is going to end in June. Um, and Anthony's

028reports tonight are through December. Uh, in the board packet, the monthly reports. But, um, I'll speak to the, as you know, we've spoken a few times already this year on the property tax situation, the delay in property taxes. So, that has cost the district will probably cost around $2 million. We're And what When we get into the revenues, we'll talk a little bit more about what we're, um, hoping to still realize where it's And this year and where it's sitting. But, um, the the budget has been adjusted for those additional costs, um, to the district of lost interest income on investments that we had to cash in early, um, additional costs to the tax anticipation warrants that we had to take out, and then lost potential revenue that we interest income that we because we

029didn't receive any, um, property taxes back in August and September. We've gotten most of it here in December and January. So, we also had lost And then the other thing I'll let Anthony explain [clears throat] a little bit why the other adjustment. Sure. Um, the one other major adjustment was to our insurance expense. Um, we projected for coming into fiscal year '26 that insurance costs would be slightly down because health insurance would be slightly down because of a reduction in FTEs, um, of employees. Uh, what we are truly seeing is it is in line with where we are where we were last year, which is good news that we're not seeing a major increase, which we'll get to, we'll kind of touch on for fiscal year '27 projections. Um, however, to the expense is similar

030to where we are seeing it for where we ended in fiscal year '25, so we did have to true that up and make sure that those numbers did were accurate. It was a It was a significant amount, but we are confident that those amounts are coming in true. So, instead of what we're projecting, instead of a unfortu- You know, I hate to I'd I'd rather be coming here with good news, But, on the toward the bottom in the yellow row, about three numbers up, we there we are anticipating there's a potential for a $10 million deficit this year rather than a $6.4 million deficit. That's materially material enough that we wanted to adjust the numbers tonight um because of course um what is in 26, some of these numbers are um extrapolated into 27 and

031beyond are the base. So, we hope um claims come in lower over the next January, February, March. You know, we're self-insured, and so we pay actual our actual claims out. And they tend to come in a little higher over the January, February, March period. So, if we anticipated them being lower traditionally, but they don't usually. So, um we did adjust the numbers. Okay. So, uh so, we're going to go just speak to some of the highlights of in the revenue uh categories, expenditure categories, and um we're going to talk a little bit about transfers and where we see um potentially the fund balance uh in the ranges of. So, uh so, local revenues, that is property taxes, right? So, you you you're pretty much everybody's caught up to the fact that, you know, taxes were

032delayed. We're still short. We still are anticipating based on our budget and our and our comparison to what the what the levy or the extension, remember the levy is the ask, but the extension came in actually. We still don't believe they've distributed the entire amount um of uh what is due for the FY24 that levy of 24. Cuz it's delayed to you know a couple years. So, we think that there are still we are still anticipating any around 10 to 16 million dollars or that we've received 90% and we're looking for another 10%. They say they've distributed 97%. Um we many districts believe Schaumburg and few other business managers, they also are falling around the 88 to 90% range. This was about 10 days ago and we've only gotten one distribution last week of 4

033million dollars and we had been promised that the week before. Um there hasn't been a whole lot of communication and to me directly from Pat I've gotten I've actually gotten I know one one email from Pat Wass his office was actually to district 15. Um haven't heard much lately. Um just confirmation that they say that the bills will go out at the you know at the end of this month so that they're due April 1st. We really need that but we also really need them to shore up the levy from 24 cuz this next receipts the spring receipts are 55% of last year's it's the first levy 25. Okay? So, we're closing out levy 24. They should they're supposed supposed to close out levy 24 between now and April 1st when the new money starts

034coming in and I'm very concerned about that. I think and and we need to have an >> [laughter] >> need a forensic audit. We need some We need them to shore this up and it seems like they're having trouble. Um clarification on that cuz that was going to be my question. If we're saying that they believe that it's a certain number and we believe that it's a certain number, this is accounting. So, I'm assuming there's a way for us to demonstrate the factual true number. Is that through the forensic audit? Would that be a No, it's if you trust Tyler Technologies and the work that they're doing cuz they say they have fixed the technology glitch. And there's wide scale skepticism as to whether that's actually the fact. So, we're hearing We heard 88% Promises,

035promises. It's been a a communication void until our coalition really formed and we believe strongly that the reason they started making those delayed payments because of what we were doing. Articles in the paper, going down to testify, putting pressure on Pampers, Periwinkle, anybody that we could think of. Preckwinkle, sorry. Anyway that we can looking at your top Periwinkle. Preckwinkle. [laughter] Um spell better. And and you know, we just don't know. And we agree. We're keeping track of in a ledger of what we've received. We know what the levy ask and and what the extension the actual amount is supposed to be. So, you know, we're going to we're going to make sure that we hold them feet to the fire for that 100% of what the extension levy levy 24 asked us for. >> There's

036a lot of discussion. I mean, last time last meeting the was a virtual meeting with all the subs and and we talked about FOIAing, um which I think is a great idea. I New Trier Chris Johnson said we should FOIA the bank. They're at Chase. All these 8 billion dollars, 9 billion dollars. And we should FOIA the bank statements. That's a little That's a start you know, like what interest have they been earning? Are they Have they maximized? Are they putting it in a high interest accounts? You know, that's just another conversation. First I just want I want our lobby I want our attention. >> you know, like Right, to make us whole from the loss. >> with the lost interest on it. Okay. All right. So, we're still waiting on money for that. Um

037and then for instance, I did email the business manager for the Pal- Village of Palatine. The downtown TIF uh distribution. They did two. They did one in June, May. We got that one. Somehow we got that one. And then they have another one that they said was going to go to Cook County in January. And and they need to turn that around to us. That's about one 1.3 million dollars. So, it's not just property taxes, it's also TIF money, it's refunds, you know, we get refunds for any property tax re- rebates, refunds. We the state refunds us for those. So, it's it's disconcerting. Um so again, going across back to this on the local revenue side, that's mostly property taxes, student fees, things like that. And as you go across, you can see we the

038CPI was 2.7 in December, so next year's levy is using a 2.7. Last The last levy was 3.4, so we're going to be reaping the benefit from the 3.4 now, and so going across those are uh we're using a 2.7 for next levy, and then 2.5 uh going forward. I mean, you want to speak to the state federal funds? >> [clears throat] >> Sure. Uh the state The state revenues are made up of the EBF funding. Uh we get a little bit every year in an in additional allotment. It's about $250,000. That's Other than that, the state revenues are comprised of grant funds that are coming flowing through the state. Um so that's what that minor increase every year year-over-year is. And looking down at the federal funds, um there is a slight decrease from

039the budget projection for '26 to '27. Those are the known federal funds that we know or that are falling off as of today. Um we kept that amount flat because of all the uncertainty behind the promises of federal funds uh that are going to be flowing to the district. So, we kept those flat as well as the expenditures. Okay. So, then revenues you can see going across um a 3.3 maybe for next year increase, 2.8. So, revenues increasing, but really based on the CPI. Uh then expenditures, so salaries, you can see right away that we have projected salaries decreasing for next year. And that's not because uh the the contractual increases are in there and everything, but we've had we'll have 26 teacher retirements this year. And we And cabinet met quite a bit over

040the last several months again to look at what can we do, what can we um you know, how can we move move things around um and um and not have to do a riff. So, between release but there are some releases, I guess those are new new teachers um to the district, resignations, leave of absences, and admin retirements, um and no riff, we are we do have a decrease of about 40 FTE. And that's about $3.2 million. So, the 3.2 is we took the dollar amount and and that's uh was applied to next year's salaries. And and then all the contractual increases are are in there, too. So, basically we're seeing we could have a kind of a flattening out of salaries for next year. And then going forward, I think we have a three

041in there, we've got a 3% going forward. I'll let me talk about benefits now. The benefits, the there is coinciding with what Diana said, the 40 FTE decrease, the benefits will be decreasing also to the net of those 40. There are some retirements that we we net against with the new hires that might be coming in. Also, what I alluded to earlier, we have and what Dr. Hines mentioned in her overview, we have met with our health insurance team, internal team, and we are projecting some favorable numbers for this fiscal year compared to what our third-party broker has on their budget, we are coming right in line with their budget. Great news. At this time we usually are seeing we're over budget. So, being all the changes that the team has made over the last

042year are starting to come to fruition. So, we did a we did a minor minor increase for for insurance of 6% every year going for the these five years. That's that's a fairly that's ballpark estimate of where we where we think it's going to be for fiscal year 2017. We're confident with that 6%. It could be if if the if the claims increase significantly, we'll be at that 6%. If they're catastrophic, unbearable, then we'll be over the 6%, but I I project that we'll be right at that 6%. If not, maybe a little less. We put in the 6% to be conservative. So, that's why that's a 3% net of all the 6% and then the reductions of the FTEs. Purchased services, we kept that flat at a 2% increase. These are all your contracts

043that we enter into throughout the district. Supplies and materials, this you'll see a 15% decrease. As Diana mentioned, part of the cap discussions during cabinet has been a reduction of department expenditures. We we put in $2 million reduction of expenditures, supplies and materials across the board between all departments. That's That's why there's a a decrease of about 15%. Capital outlay, there's a 14% increase. This relates to technology for the the entire district as well as we are including an increase of bus replacements. We are trying to implement and continue moving forward with the bus replacement schedule. So, you any fluctuations in future years are due to those the buses. We worked with transportation department to make sure that we put together a 10-year plan and that's what this is starting to show is getting getting

044all of our fleet turned over in 10 to 12 years. We have some catching up to do there because during COVID, of course, we didn't need to buy buses and but it is caught up it's caught up with us and and on time on time on his way out and Shude now on her way in, they have a they've come up with a schedule of what we need to do and it ranges between 800,000 to over a million dollars each year. Okay. That was capital outlay and then all other expenditures pretty flat. So, adding up the expenditures, I think that covered most of what we wanted to talk about on the expenditure side. So, you can see expenditures pretty flat for next year we predict, we hope, and then go increasing as we go out

045two to three two two almost 3% but that's very conservative. It's still you know, not not really giving um big increases in in the various areas. So, um again, so the first you know, we see the surpluses and deficits. So, we see maybe next year 1.5 surplus but that's before transfers. So, if you go to your second sheet here with and if you go to the next slide, uh Anthony and I have been looking at this in very different scenarios and first I'll I'll defer to um Anthony. He can talk about the blue lines. Sure. So, the bottom blue line is 25% fund balance. That is the board's policy to maintain 25% fund balance in all of our operating funds combined. The top blue line is 35%. Just that the 25 is ISBE's recommendation. You

046do not have a board policy. Yeah, ISBE's recommendation. You know, right. We don't really have a policy but 35 is what where we've been >> [clears throat] >> you know, Yeah, I just wanted to clarify that. You don't have a board policy. Yeah. Okay, so those two lines right. So, we want to be in the range there, right? And the green line is where we've been. You can see 20 1 22 23 and 24. Uh we're above the 35 and then 25 we started to blow. That was again you know, we had all our construction. We knew we were going to need some more teachers and now we're trying to flatten out and we you know, the hope the hope is that we start creeping back up toward the 25 line and then exceed it.

047So, the bars they um the bars Oh my god, vertical bars. >> bar charts Um first grouping is the Ed Fund. Next grouping is O&M, 20. And then transportation. We'll talk going to talk talk about transportation. Um Uh Fund 50 is IMRF. Uh social security 70s working cash, we really don't have any money in there. And then last is tort, which is okay that that's really small, too, cuz that's our liability insurance and claims. But Ed Fund has as as as our surplus or deficits have decreased Ed Fund has as taken most of the hit on that. We've left some cash in O&M because of the emphasis, the push on bringing our buildings back up to um you know, a level that we the board would like to see them at. But transportation um we've

048used some of that fund balance to to fund some of the programs. And because their fund balance was running around 100% fund balance, meaning they had a $10 million budget, they had that fund had 10 million in reserve. And that's that was too high. So we started using it up. But it's caught up to us. We cannot go negative. It's an operating fund. Again, when we're presenting these these reports, it's the operating funds. The numbers on the first page were all the all these funds combined together. But in an audit your auditors will look look at it audit each individual fund. We can't go negative. So we have to move money into Fund 40. So the next section I'm going to talk about, we're going to talk about on the back to the numbers page,

049is we have to start replenishing Fund 40. And the this this chart here reflects some transfers we're going to talk about. Uh again, when you start you see the red the little tiny red there, that's 27. So, you can see the the um transfers we're going to put in there make fund 40 positive, but then it's still not positive. It's going to trend negative. So, we still have to fix fund 40. But, so if you go back a slide, anything else you want to say on that? No. So, the numbers that that you see here for the other financing sources and uses, that's where our all of our operating transfers are. In total, they net to $3,180,000. That's the $3,000,000. Excuse me. Is the transfer out for alternate revenue debt payment that was set up

050a few years ago. And then the $180,000 is for our operating um leases that we have. We did increase the fiscal year 26 transfer from Ed Fund to Transportation because that fund is projecting to go negative. We can't go negative at the end of the year, otherwise we would have to do some uh budget planning. Um and the and the auditors will have comments on our report. So, we did transfer to make sure everything was in line. And it is is it is allowable since they all are operating funds to move to do transfers in between the Ed Fund, Operations Fund, and Transportation Fund. For fiscal year 27, we increased the transfers from into the Transportation Fund uh $1.7 million from Ed Fund and $1 million from the Operations Fund. Hold on. Yeah. So, that's

051how it reflects. That's how it looks. I mean, overall, it still stays in the operating funds. It's still in this in the numbers part. It's just on the second chart, you know, that's where you see the details. So, so, the projection is a deficit could be could be still under uh less than $2 million, but we could have say a $1.7 million deficit in FY 27. Uh we could have a deficit in 28. And then well, you see, we could we're still in deficit projection. So, there'll be some hard choices that have to be made. Because we can't we're going to eventually have to do a deficit reduction plan, but we're not there yet state-wise. State State hasn't mandated it yet because we're not there's some formulas and we we don't we don't meet their

052formulas yet for a requirement. But, obviously, so and then we're looking really where about a second from the bottom is the fund balance could be could be 23% this year, 22 next year, 21. So, kind of leveling off around little over 20. Um but we want to get that back up to 25. I recommend that at least if we want to get Well, we need to get to 25 and then I would recommend think that board would would wish to also hopefully build some back up above the 25% threshold. And that was always the the game plan, if you remember, as we were Lisa, you were out with us for all those nights as part of the Moving 15 Forward referendum. The prior boards and and business manager, superintendent were able to amass a lot

053of fund balance and the facilities, the curriculum, our staffing levels, everything suffered as a result of saving all the money and that and letting deferred maintenance become our our mechanism. Right? So, we got at it before the referendum with a successful passing of the referendum in 2022, Moving 15 Forward. We knew we were going to draw the fund balances down. We didn't anticipate they would go below 25, but we knew we we be getting close. So, to Diana's point, we've got to get it back up to 25 while still managing that 5-year facility plan. We have a 10-year master facility plan. Lots of work to do. That referendum took a big whack out of what needed to happen to our facilities, but it had been a very long time since we put enough money towards

054the facilities to maintain them. Let alone improve them. So, this was all part of what we knew was going to be happening as a result of the referendum. And as Diana said, we have to just become more and more disciplined. Over the last couple of years, we have looked for ways to drive the deficit, you know, up, shrink that number. Um, and we'll continue to do that, but and this board knows we've tried to do it as far away from the classroom as as humanly possible. But now to get this final, you know, these projections to where we need them to balance and then building up, we're going to really have to, I don't know where other than people we're going to be able to find the money cuz we have we have cut everywhere

055we can and we're still short. So, that'll be the work of the next couple years. It's going to get a lot harder, but we've gotten better at it over the last couple years and it's we're just going to continue to need to do that um with precision to the extent that we can away from the classrooms and our kids and our teachers. But at some point we might not be able to stay as far away as we'd like to and make the budget balance. And it's it's good I mean it's really great work honestly that the you know, the deficit has gone as you look at the projections 27, 28, 29 down into a number that's in the single million dollars. But you can also, you know, as you project that forward see how that

056critically masses into a really big net negative on our fund balance. And so, it's not even though it seems like it's small and it's not very impactful, it's long-term hugely impactful. So, I think there needs to be absolutely [clears throat] focus on 27-28 to eliminate that 1.69 and 1.46, get ourselves back to net zero. Cool. Any questions? No, thank you both and to the team sitting out there that's been helping tighten the budget. Thank you. Okay. Ahmad and Emily are your next Are you our next contestants? Come on down. >> [laughter] >> All right. Good evening, President Nader, members of the Board of Education and Superintendent Dr. Hanes. I'm Ahmad Gibson, the Chief Communications Officer here at District 15 and tonight I will be sharing an update on the work of our Communications Department and

057how it connects to strategic priority three, community engagement and family involvement. So, like I used to be in honest dialogue. >> [laughter] >> Uh at its core, this work um is really about trust and it's about how people experience District 15 when they need information, when something changes and when they simply just want to feel connected to what's happening in our schools. So, last school year, our focus was really on building a right foundation and putting consistent systems in place, improving access, and making sure that our tools work for the size and complexity of this district. Now, in my second year serving in this role, we've been a lot more intentional about slowing it down where it mattered, um so that we could listen and look closely at the data and understand who we're reaching,

058um and who we still need to reach better. So, one important shift that we've seen, uh as you'll see throughout this presentation, is we are now connect connecting with more families than ever before. Um and that's truly a positive outcome, but it also means that we have to be more thoughtful and strategic about how we communicate, um and when that communication needs to be two-way versus uh one-directional. So, we'll walk you through where we started, um what we've learned, and how we're refining our approach to move forward. But, before we get into that, I want to start by recognizing the dedicated team behind this work. Um as I've mentioned, I'm the Chief Communications Officer. In my role, I lead our overall strategic communications strategy, um crisis response, executive messaging, brand management, and stakeholder engagement. Uh

059to my right, I have Emily Anderson, who is in her first year with District 15 serving as our Assistant Director of Communications and Digital Media. Um in just a short amount of time, she has taken on significant responsibility, um cuz she manages a lot of what our family and community members see. And she oversees our social media, graphic design, family community newsletters, um our D15 news, event coverage, and a lot more. Um and she plays a key role in helping us tell the story of D15 in ways in a way that's timely, clear, and accessible to our family and community members. Um Sandy Kramer is no stranger to District 15. [laughter] Uh she's our web and communications manager and brings deep institutional knowledge to the work that we do. Um Sandy's been in the district

060for decades, as you all know, and manages our district and school websites, uh accessibility compliance, Parent Square administration, um and all of the systems that keep our communications accurate and functional. And much of the work that um much of what works seamlessly across our district um does so because of her expertise and hard work behind the scenes, so. Um and then we also have uh Katie Kowalski, who serves as our part-time reprographics technician, um where she supports the printing [clears throat] needs of uh curriculum and district materials. All right. So, going into the school year, we didn't want to do more simply for the sake of doing more. Um we wanted to slow down enough to understand what was working and what wasn't and who we were and were not reaching. So, knowing that we

061were preparing [clears throat] to introduce a new communications platform, um that would be a significant shift for the district, we spent a lot of time listening early on, um much like we did last year, um when I first got here, we met with principals, visited schools, and looked closely at engagement patterns across the district. Um and that helped us identify where our communication was strong and where some gaps still existed. And instead of making quick changes, we focused on strengthening internal communication first and laying the groundwork for tools like Parent Square, so that when it was fully rolled out, um it was support for more connection rather than confusion, um while still being aware that there's going to be a learning curve regardless for a district of this size. So, um looking back, last year

062was more about building systems and this year has been about listening and optimizing. And now the work ahead of us is um just being more precise and purposeful in how we communicate. All right. So, [clears throat] um I want to be really clear about why we approached this year the way that we did though. Um, the pace of change in education and family needs continues to accelerate and families expect information differently than they did even a few years ago. Um, and the tools available to us are also evolving just as quickly. Um, while historical data still matters, it no longer tells the full story and that real-time feedback is uh what helps us understand how families are actually experiencing our communications. So, because of that, um, we felt that it would be irresponsible almost to

063make those drastic changes without first understanding um, where we were in our communications landscape. And making those changes without the data uh really leads to solving the wrong problems um and then you have to work to fix those. And that's not something that we wanted to risk, especially in a district so rooted in its traditions. Um, so as our reach expanded, largely due to Parent Square, we began hearing from voices that historically weren't um always represented in our feedback. And that was really important even when the data was a little more like complex or messy um, because it meant that we were finally seeing like a more complete picture. And we also knew that change will require adoption before optimization. And the tools only work for people um if they're comfortable using them. So, with

064that context in mind, um, this next part is really where the work starts to feel tangible um and where you can see how that foundation translated into real engagement, reach, and impact. Um, so Emily will walk you through how we brought that vision to life and um along with some tools and strategies that we're using to meet families where they are. Mhm. So, as you all know, and I hope you all filled it out, um every year the communications department sends out a website and communication survey, which really helps our team gather insight on how um we can best adjust our work to serve our community. So, in the 2026 survey, families rated how informed they feel about district level updates at an average of 4.16 out of 5. And while that's a slight decrease

065from 4.28 last year, it's still a huge improvement from the 3.96 average we saw in 2023. Um like Amado was saying, this year involves a lot of transition as families and staff adjusted to our new tools. Um but even with those changes, we're seeing signs that our communication strategies are helping us reach families who um may have previously disengaged. Um receiving updates in the form of text and emails makes communication a lot harder to miss. Um as we all know, it's really easy for a message to get lost um in your inbox, but a text notification um that's being delivered in real time can really help bring families back into the loop. Um we're also seeing stronger engagement from parents um who experience language barriers. Um like Amado was saying, thanks to Parent Square's translating

066features and other amazing tools that it has, um we've definitely sung the praises a lot of Parent Square over the past year, but the one feature that continues to stand out for both staff and families is the ability to communicate directly in their preferred language um with messages automatically translated for the person who's receiving them. That's been super helpful this year um in just making communication more accessible um and allowing families to engage in their own time rather than needing to wait for maybe a translator to step in and help. Um Next slide, please, Amado. >> [laughter] >> Um one part of my job that I really love is managing our social media. Um, it's just a super impactful way to help tell our story. Um, and I really feel that families are obviously very

067connected to their children's day-to-day experiences and really want to see that learning, growth, and joy in action um, on our social media channels. So, um, yeah, that just consistently comes up when I talk to parents and in our annual survey, um, they just want to see pictures and videos. And Lori loves video, too. And I'm happy to do it. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> Yeah. Yeah, it was a [laughter] cute one. Um, so capturing and sharing these moments in school visits, celebrations, performances, or just a random Tuesday, um, have become real points of engagement within our community. Um, and thankfully, the data reflects this. Over the past year, our district social media posts on Facebook and Instagram generated more than 150,000 total engagements, um, consisting of reactions, comments, and shares, um, which is 37% increase compared

068to the previous year. Um, uh, yeah, so I aim to post about two times per week on the district Facebook and Instagram pages, and I encourage the schools to post at least once a week on their individual pages. Um, I also post on LinkedIn weekly in coordination with the human resources team to highlight culture and recruitment efforts, especially right now with bus drivers. Um, by posting a little bit less with greater purpose from the district level, I'm able to focus on storytelling that really resonates with families rather than contributing to digital fatigue. Um, this just allows each post to stand on its own and really shine through. >> [snorts] >> One more? One more? Yeah, there we go. Okay. [laughter] So, um if you visit the District 15 homepage today, you'll see a new centerpiece,

069District 15 News. Um and while incredible things happen within our classrooms every day, those stories can sometimes stay contained within the walls of a single building. Um we know just from our Parents as Partners meetings and our Superintendent's Communication Council meetings that our families and staff really feel that desire to feel more connected as a district. Um and we often end those meetings by sharing celebrations from each school, um since we sometimes, again, hear that they feel siloed in their buildings. Um so, District 15 News is our direct response to that feedback, and it's a way of taking those small wins and giving them the spotlight they deserve. Kind of like a digital town square designed to spread the District 15 spirit across the community. And without giving too much away, cuz I'd love for

070you to go read them yourselves, um the stories we've shared so far really show why it matters. Um we've featured things like the free eye clinics at Sanborn, um the innovative computer science work that happened this fall at Plum Grove, and some incredible staff stories, which are just a few examples of the programs and people who make District 15 so special. Um so, District 15 News just gives these moments a permanent home where the whole community can actually see and celebrate them. Okay, um moving onto the website, Sandy's wheelhouse, >> [laughter] >> and back to the data. Um so, in our survey, uh when asked about the ease of use of the district website, the average rating this year was 3.93 out of five, which again represents a slight decrease just from um 0.05 points

071from last year. Um yeah, these analytics analytics just continue to reinforce the importance of our district website as a primary information hub and digital front door, as Sandy calls it, >> [laughter] >> for our district, um, between July 1st of last year and January 22nd of this year, um, more than 184,000 users visited our district and school websites, generating over 1 million page views. Um, these Yeah, it's a lot. These, um, users viewed an average of 5.43 pages per session and spent approximately 2 minutes on the site, um, which really shows they're engaging with all kinds of district information. Um, we, and Sandy especially, are constantly thinking of strategic ways we can improve navigation, organization, and mobile accessibility as we continue strengthening our website. Um, and I'll mention it more, but I really do want

072to speak to the numbers that Emily just presented, and those slight decreases being so minimal is really great when you consider, um, the amount of respond responses that we're getting compared to previous years on these surveys. So, our, um, survey response increased 145% this year. So, like that small decrease in approval rating is not really that crazy considering that we almost tripled how many responses we got. So, um, ParentSquare has helped a lot with that. Um, speaking of ParentSquare, um, yeah, so we So, we spent most of the year, um, or the start of the school year, helping families and staff adapt to ParentSquare, and we knew that we were asking them to adjust to a major change in how information was being delivered, and our priority was making sure that people could access the

073system, understand it, and trust it. So, as I said, because of that, the focus was helping schools move towards consistent use, supporting staff as they build comfort with the platform, and giving families time to adapt to a new way of receiving information. Um and now that ParentSquare is for the most part established district-wide, uh like we're reaching a lot more families than we have before. Um another example is the superintendent search survey, and I know um the one that was done prior to Dr. Hines being here just had a few hundred responses, I was told, and this most recent one uh had over 1,300. So, >> [laughter] >> So, >> [laughter] >> um so, the numbers have been undeniable. And while that broader participation can sometimes result in slight shifts in overall ratings, um it's

074really a positive signal, and we now have significantly more data to work with, um and our communications are fully translated and accessible, and it gives us a more accurate and inclusive picture to guide our decisions moving forward. So, um at this point, ParentSquare is both messaging and uh feedback data collection as well. All right, so >> on ParentSquare, when if you all remember when Amad was new last year, I'm like, "You really want to take on ParentSquare in your first year?" >> He [laughter] just kept telling me, "Yep, I do." And all right, so thank thankfully you stuck with it and and we did it cuz it's been it's been a great addition. Thank you. So much better. And I just think it serves this community um as uh diverse as it is, like, so

075much better. So, um thanks for allowing me to put your foot in my first year. >> [laughter] >> Um The statistics in it, too, are fantastic because we know that we're reaching 99.6% of all of our families Yep. through either email or text messaging. And um anywhere near that true before. Yeah, they give us great report feedback, so we know where to find uh the parents we're not reaching, and then we can send our staff out to help get them connected. So. It's been great. Um so, in our most recent survey, just over 82% of our families um shared that they feel they receive about the right amount of communication, and that tells us that a vast majority of families feel appropriately informed um even as we continue to fine-tune our message volume and timing.

076Um and another important data point is where those messages are coming from. Over 83% of parents and guardians indicated that most of their Parent Square communication comes directly from building administrators and teachers. Um and that's meaningful because it points to how the tool um has empowered our staff members to have more autonomy over their messaging, and it also shows that families are getting information closest to their child's day-to-day experiences, um and not just from the district level. So, families expect timely, detailed information about what's happening in their child's school, and while the volume may feel high um in a world full of notifications, the data tells us that most families see this communication as helpful, relevant, and appropriate. All right. Um so, this gives us a snapshot of how families are experiencing Parent Square so

077far. When asked whether Parent Square has improved communication from their child's school and from the overall district, 63% of families said yes. Another 23% said somewhat, combining for more than 86% of respondents seeing an improvement to some degree. Um that remaining 14% who responded no is still important data for us um because it helps us identify where to focus our refinement efforts, and which areas of that the open-ended part of our survey um that we want to dive deeper into. But, overall, this tells us that we're moving in the right direction. Our communications are reaching more families, and most are experiencing it as an improvement. So, our next step is how to move those somewhats to yeses and flip some of those nos to having a positive experience. All right. So, what stands out here

078right away is that text messaging continues to be the most preferred and most utilized method of communication for our families. Um and to me, that says that families want information in a timely, concise, um accessible manner. And you'll also notice the steady growth in the Parent Square app usage. And while downloading the app is not required, families will still receive their messages via email and text and or text. Um the app does offer a more organized experience where all the communications live in one place. So, as we move forward, we um part of our work will be focused on helping families understand the benefits of the app and how it can make staying connected easier. Um and as the mobile usage continues to rise, it reinforces the need for us to look deeper into how

079messages are being structured for mobile viewing, and also how our website functions on mobile devices as well. All right. So, this helps us understand how Parent Square is actually being used day-to-day across the district. At the building level, principals and teachers are primarily communicating through group posts and auto notices, which has helped bring more consistency and clarity to our school-wide messaging. And at the same time, teachers, nurses, and staff are actively using direct messages with more than 41,000 conversation threads, um and all of those conversations happening in the families' preferred languages. What's encouraging to me through this data um is that it shows us both progress and opportunity. We are seeing strong adoption of the core features, which is exactly where we wanted it to be in year one. Um but at the same time,

080the lower usage of some of those advanced features actually gives us confidence because it shows that staff are using the platforms in um ways that make sense for their roles and their comfort levels and that there is still plenty of room to grow. So, as staff become more comfortable, our focus will be on helping them explore additional tools like forms, calendars, appointment sign-ups, which they've already expressed would be really great for parent-teacher conferences, um media sharing, um just so that we can continue to centralize communication in one place. And I believe that we've only scratched the surface of what Parent Square can do and I think that this data positions us well um to evolve intentionally rather than all at once. So, another way that we've approached family and community engagement differently this year was

081our annual report calendar. So, this was really designed as a communication tool and instead of a traditional report, we wanted something that families and community members could actually use and return to. Um presenting our work in a calendar format made district information more approachable and helped show how priorities, milestones, and initiatives connect over the course of the year. Um while all of the information was still shared at once, the format provided more context. It allowed people to see how district work unfolds over time um and how those individual moments tie back to our strategic priorities. So, this year was a unique moment for the district as it marks our 80th anniversary um and how we continue to move forward after the referendum, it just felt important for us to clearly communicate how um our community

082and taxpayer investments are showing up for students, families, and staff. Um and the calendar gave us a way to pause and reflect on all of the work that we've done. So, this is was not intended to be permanent or an annual format, um but rather a way to honor this moment, reinforce that transparency, and strengthen our connection with the community. So, as we look ahead, we'll continue to evaluate the best ways to share progress um in ways that are clear, accessible, and meaningful. Um and now Emily will walk you through some of our two-way engagement efforts um with different stakeholder groups. If I could before you do that, if I could just add with the with the calendar, uh we did a magazine a few years ago, right? We were out in the community a

083lot for the referendum. And then we changed we have a strategic priority about community engagement. It's really hard to communicate with 100,000 people. And that is about how many people are within our 35-mile boundary. We don't have all of their emails. Right? So, every now and again we are going to do something like this, we agreed. Maybe not annually, but because some people are like, "Oh, why would you spend why would you spend dollars on on something like this?" It's really one of the only ways we can. And that was quite cheap, quite frankly. Um that we can communicate to with the larger community. Right? We're still doing our community engagement, you know, hang with Hines events, catch up with Hines events. Um we have board meetings. You can see it. We have our favorite

084few people at the front. >> [laughter] >> They act back right over there next to Mindy. Um but this is the way we have to do it in a district of this size. We're putting ourselves out. We're inviting people in monthly. And every year or so, as Amad said, it's worth an investment, we believe, to communicate with the community the many wonderful things that we're doing and how we're reinvesting their tax dollars to improve this district, to educate our kids, and and to to make sure that they're all, you know, have a strong sense of belonging and are growing. So, we'll we'll continue to to probably wrestle a few people that don't think it's worth the money to communicate, but how else are we going to be able to do that on such a large

085scale in a district of this size? Go ahead, Emily. Um so, I'm going to talk a little bit about our Parents as Partners group, um which brings parent representatives from all of our schools together um with members of our cabinet team at the district level for conversations about our district priorities and just um to kind of get a sense of the overall family experience in our district. Um like I'm as I've been saying, it's really meant to be two-way communication, giving parents more visibility into the district, and also giving us a chance to really hear um directly from them. So, this year we made one small change to how the meetings um are conducted by inviting parents to share one win and one wish from their school communities. Um and at this last meeting we

086had, parents met in small groups with cabinet members in district staff in groups about three, four, five people um and got to speak directly with those cabinet and staff members, um and it just gave a great space for feedback and a chance to really be heard from those parents. Um yeah, and just from looking around the room at our last meeting, this is something that we'll definitely continue to do in the future. Um Okay, this one. Catch up with Hines. >> [laughter] >> Um this is where Dr. Hines meets families right where they are and shares um about the District 15 community. Um I'll speak a little bit about one event that we had this year that was very memorable. Um Um, it was the Palatine libraries early learner Halloween story time. Um, featuring our

087ever willing to commit to a theme TLA team. >> [laughter] >> Um, they showed up in full inflatable dinosaur costumes to read a story to the kids, um, while Dr. Heinz spent time with our, uh, their families during craft time. Um, it was just a really fun and welcoming way to engage with our future District 15 learners. Um, and we're hoping [clears throat] to continue opportunities like this in the coming year with our new superintendent and who knows, maybe maybe they'll get in a dinosaur suit, too. I might just leave one in my office. [laughter] Okay, um, the last community group that I'll speak about tonight is, um, DACEE, our District Advisory Committee on Educational Excellence, which we host, um, and we also attend the Prince of Peace Community Leaders meeting at the, um, Prince

088of Peace Lutheran Church. Um, these are gatherings of schools, local government officials, community community organizations, um, and we all share what's happening across our community and how we can support one another best. Um, I think we all feel that right now, especially, our community really needs to lean on one another and having this consistent space to connect and share updates about our organization is super valuable. Um, so whether it's at our own Hi-Five Fridays, having our state reps visit our schools, see the parent mentor program in action, or the mayor of Palatine reading at a family literacy event, um, these moments really just remind us that our schools are made infinitely better through the support of our community that surrounds them. All right, um, and events like this, um, the 80th anniversary gala, uh, is

089really what brings strategic priority three to life. Um, the decision to host the gala was grounded in our commitment to meaningful community and family engagement. We wanted to create a moment that wasn't just about celebration, but about connection, participation, and shared responsibility for our students. At its core, the gala is meant to directly support feed our feed 15 initiative, which directly addresses food insecurity, a real area of concern for many of our students and families. But, what really makes this powerful is how many voices are involved. So, students are going to be a part of the evening through performances, which reinforces that this work is truly about them and for them. Um, staff are contributing their time and talents through volunteerism. Families are engaging not just as attendees, but as partners and supporters, and community

090members and organizations are stepping in as contributors. It's a collective effort with staff, students, families, PTAs, PTOs, our 15 foundation, community partners, all contributing their time, talent, and resources towards the common goal of feeding our students. So, from a communications and engagement perspective, this is two-way engagement at its finest, because it's people showing up, participating, and investing in one another, and not just information being shared. Questions? Also, I will say, if you're not already signed up to receive our community newsletter, anyone in the room or watching, >> [laughter] >> you can scan the QR code and it'll take you right to the form. Yes. All right. No questions, but thank you. Per usual, whenever you all present, it's just amazing what this very small team is doing on [clears throat] a daily basis. So, thank

091you for being present and for elevating the stories of our team and our students and families. It really does make a huge difference and highly recommend downloading the app. It is very helpful. >> [laughter] >> Yes. Thank you. All right, thank you very much. All right. So we are going to um Hold on a minute, Sherri. We're going to Yep. Um we are going to uh pause on item 5.3 and move to item 5.4, which is the announcement of our new superintendent. Um Don't do it. Don't I have to give my little intro and then I'll I'll I'll pick I'll >> [laughter] >> I'll pick you so that we can move to the next slide. Um So Let me see. So one of the most important responsib well Okay. >> [laughter] >> So one of

092the most important responsibilities of the Board of Education is selecting the superintendent who will lead our district forward on behalf of students, staff, and our community. Over the past several months, the board has conducted a comprehensive student superintendent search process after Dr. Heinz announced her upcoming retirement. That process was informed by our staff, community survey, focus groups, as well as board discussion. And our community was clear about what they wanted in their next superintendent. A visionary and equity-driven leader with experience in diverse districts like ours, experience across the classroom, school, and district levels, and a deep commitment to students. Uh a collaborative and communicative and transparent leader who also has strong budget oversight skills. All right, so I am very very happy to share that we have found that person. So, I now get the

093distinct honor to share that the board has selected Dr. Dana Smith as the next superintendent of Community Consolidated SCHOOL DISTRICT 15. >> [applause] >> DR. SMITH IS HERE with us this evening AS YOU CAN SEE. >> [applause] >> ALL RIGHT. >> [laughter] >> SO, I GET TO I GET TO sing Dr. Smith's praises for just a minute here. So, Dr. Smith will officially assume the role on July 1st, 2026. He brings the depth of experience in diverse elementary districts settings as an elementary teacher, principal, district leader, and superintendent. He will be coming to us from Flossmoor School District 161 south of Chicago where he has served as superintendent since 2017. Under his leadership, the district has demonstrated consistent increases in student growth and achievement including the recognition of multiple exemplary schools. He has strengthened transparency

094and communication resulting in increased family engagement and deeper community involvement in district initiatives. Prior to Flossmoor, he served as the assistant superintendent for early childhood and elementary education in Woodstock Unit School District 200. That is very long title. Where he led curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development work. He's also served as an elementary teacher and principal. Throughout the search process, Dr. Smith consistently demonstrated the qualities our community said were critical in the next superintendent. The board is confident confident that his experience and approach will keep District 15 moving forward in new and innovative ways while staying committed to our students, staff, and community. So, I want to extend a warm welcome to as this is a family job, the Smith family to District 15. SO, WELCOME. >> [applause] [applause] >> THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH

095TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. I really appreciate your support. And your confidence. So proud. You're getting a mic, so hold on just a second. >> [laughter] >> Dave will always tell you to remember your mic. Remember your mic. Yes, I get it. I get it. >> [clears throat] >> I'll start over. Thank you to the Board of Education for your support, for your confidence. Really excited and proud to join such an engaged and student-centered community. Got a long time uh for the transition that we have over the next few months. Really excited to get started meeting all of you, connecting with the school community. So, we can build on the great work that's happened in the past and identify uh the next steps that we want to take as a school community. So, thank you

096so much for your trust, and I'm looking forward to joining ALL OF YOU. >> [applause] >> ARE THERE ANY OTHER BOARD MEMBERS? DOES ANYBODY ELSE WANT TO SAY ANYTHING? NO? You're good? Okay. Thank you. Welcome, welcome, welcome. We are so excited um and can't wait for the transition and all the learning to begin. It's a lot to take in. All right, Sherry, good luck with press one. >> Yeah, now you got to come talk about >> [laughter] >> Should we make her walk up? Does anyone have Oh, no, no questions. I didn't have any questions. No, I I'm just asking like if Are you Anyone have anything for 122nd read? Okay. Rather than make her Now she's Yeah, she's graduated graduated from a scooter to crutches, but I don't want to move her around unnecessarily.

097Don't need [laughter] Sherry, we're good. Okay. All right. Okay, moving on to item 6.1, acceptance of minutes. I move to approve the minutes of the January 14th, 2026 regular and closed session meetings and the January 17th, January 27th, and January 28th closed session meetings as attached. Second. All right, discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right, motion carries. All right, item board committee reports. Ed Red, Frank. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> So, the legislature will be back in session February 17th. They'll be down there for to hear the governor's budget and state of the state address on the 18th. Um the on the 6th of this month was the deadline for the legislators to introduce their bills for consideration this session. So, those are now going to be going through review. And those will be

098be assigned to committees, and then we'll see what happens after that. So, once those all get assigned to committees, they'll be you know, they'll be known to everybody what they are, and everybody can start taking a look at what they are, but right now we don't we don't quite know what they are yet. So, there's some some that are out there, but not all of them. Um, that is about it for now. 15 Foundation Eric? Uh, yeah, we have this Saturday is our 50/50 raffle. This is our biggest fundraising event of the year and goes to support our uh, teacher teacher mini grants that we just passed out back in December. We passed out close to $40,000 worth of mini grants across the district and it was a huge success. Um, it'll kick off on

099the tickets are sold online. Parents and staff will receive the link via district newsletters and principal newsletters and everyone can also find the link at our 15 Foundation website as well as social media. The drawing will be on the lucky day of St. Patrick's Day. So, from Valentine's Day to St. Patrick's Day, so look for that coming this Saturday. Yep, and Diana and Anthony did a great job of presenting the five-year financial forecast and we we appreciate the efforts that you all make. Oops, just realized my mic was off. I didn't see the big green sign. >> [laughter] >> All right, and then equity committee Jim and Zubair. The equity committee met with Superintendent Hines. We went through kind of a few new goals that we would like for the upcoming upcoming year. It was

100a pretty exciting to kind of think of kind of going back a little bit and saying that some of the stuff we wanted just continue like evaluating our equity before the yearly presentation. Uh, so that we would have some background into that before it gets presented. Other things we're looking to review operations in our special ed, the various different programs and do that on site as much as we can. Also, similarly we're going to review, um, our curriculum, particularly the social studies curriculum, to the to the extent that it, um, uh, we're looking at various statues that the that the, um, district is required to, uh, to follow and see how that's implemented in in our district and see how equity is reflected in there. Anything else, uh, No, no, I don't think so. I

101think just, um, as uh, Sam had said in in introducing, uh, Dr. Smith to that, um, that is a priority as well, too. Just I he aligned with what the community was looking for, but also in in what what we hold hold dear and hold as priorities uh, was kind of one of the reasons that he was selected as well. So, I'm looking forward to that transition as well. I think being a smooth one just as much as Dr. Hines holds that a priority, I think our new superintendent will as well. So, the community should look forward to that. Correct. Great. Thank you. All right, moving on to action items. Item 8.1, may I have a motion, please? I move to approve the resolution for the dismissal of probationary teacher Jacqueline Brennan for reasons other

102than reduction in force effective immediately. Second. Discussion. All right, roll call. Ader. Aye. >> Ann Erie, no. Aye. Taylor. Aye. Shoop, aye. Aye. Khan. Aye. Bachmann. Aye. All right, item 8.2, [clears throat] uh, personnel report. I move to approve the personnel report recommendations for administrative, certified, and non-certified staff members as presented. Second. All right, discussion. Um, would you mind if you asked me just item 54? Please. See, getting nailed within my No. Um, I just in the personnel report, I I wanted to make a take a moment to um, welcome [clears throat] aboard five new administrators in the district, all of whom are here tonight and you're getting up lucky at 8:30. We usually don't get down this early. But two new principals, Brienne Thurber, if you could stand up, please, AND ANDREW WILSON. >>

103[applause] >> WE HAD EIGHT OF OUR TALENTED ASSISTANT principals interested in two open principal positions that will will be will be vacant um July 1 when Jenny Grosch from Marion Jordan and Bob Harris from Willow Bend right off into the sunset into retirement. And Brienne and Andrew through numerous rounds [clears throat] of interviews kind of just kept floating to the top in terms of they had the just right combination of the experience and administrative skills, people skills and and all the right things at the right time. We will be announcing later this week or next in terms of everyone's assignments. But we wanted to get them board approved here in February and then and welcome them aboard. And then we'll work on transitions with the new administrative team once that's all announced and and we'll

104get down to business. Believe me, they're chomping at the bit. They're They wish it was going faster than it is, but they'll have plenty of time for a a successful transition. So, congratulations and welcome aboard. And then we have three new assistant principals in our audience. Miss Olivia Gentile, currently a sped coordinator at Wheatley. Miss Kristen Johnson, if you could stand up. Miss Kristen Johnson, she's a sped special education coordinator at CLA. And Mr. Scott Venus is a science teacher right here at Sunly. And they will be our three newest assistant principals. SO, CONGRATULATIONS. >> [applause] >> WE'RE EXCITED TO HAVE YOU. YOU'RE JOINING A wonderful administrative team. So, any of you are strong and we will make sure you're uh onboarded and ready to rock and roll once the new school year starts. Awesome.

105Yeah. Congratulations. All right, roll call. Taylor Aye. Shoopay Aye. Khan Aye. Bachmann Aye. Ader Aye. Anarino Aye. All right, motion carries. Congrats again. All right, item 8.3. I move to approve the second reading of class 120 as presented. Second. All right, discussion. Okay, roll call. Shoopay Aye. Khan Aye. Bachmann Aye. Ader Aye. Anarino Aye. Taylor Aye. All right, motion carries. Item 8.4. Do you have a motion, please? I move to award a 3-month contract for emergency transportation services for unassigned school bus routes to First Student located in Northbrook, Illinois for up to 10 drivers at $442 per day effective or sorry, per day per driver effective February 20th, 2026. Second. Okay, discussion. Okay. Uh roll call. Khan Aye. Bachmann Aye. Ader Aye. Anarino Aye. Taylor Aye. Shoopay Aye. All right, motion carries. Item 8.5. I

106move to approve the 2026 through 2029 superintendent employment contract as presented. >> Second. All right, uh discussion. No. Congratulations again, Dr. Smith. Uh all right, roll call. Bachmann Aye. Ader Aye. Anarino Aye. Taylor Aye. Shoopay I. Khan, I. All right, motion. >> were here, she'd say I, too. Yes. Enthusiastically. [laughter] >> Yes, she would. She absolutely would. All right, item 8.6. I move to approve the 2025 through 2029 SEIU collective bargaining agreement as presented. Second. All right, discussion. Just wanted to shout out to the SEIU team and thank Drew, Chris, Mark, Alex, Ty, Adam, Shawn, Mario, and their UniServ union delegate Michael for It was a long, but it was very collaborative, productive. We think we have a wonderful contract. And we hope you ratify it tonight. They ratified it over the weekend, but just

107wanted to thank their negotiating team. And the the overall, the whole union for all that they do. So, thank you. All right. Roll call. Ada, I. Honorino, I. Taylor, I. Shuby, I. Khan, I. Bachman, I. All right, motion carries. Consent calendar. Would anyone like to remove anything from the consent calendar? No. All right, may I have a motion, please? I move to approve the consent calendar items as presented. Second. All right, roll call. Honorino, I. Ada, I. Taylor, I. Shuby, I. Khan, I. Bachman, I. All right, motion carries. Correspondence. Dr. Hines. Um as always, I've submitted for your review all the FOIA's that we've received, and they continue to be coming in at a fever pitch. Any questions? A lot of them. All right, may I have a motion to adjourn? I move to adjourn.

108Second. All in favor? I. I. Meeting adjourned. Thank you.