001Good evening. I call to order the board of education meeting for school district 23 for June 11th, 2026 at 7 p.m. First item is a >> Yes. Um we're going to do that in just a minute. Before we jump into uh roll call the pledge, we just want to acknowledge we lost a member of our district 23 family uh the week the last week of school. One of our custodians, Brian Heitzman, had served the district for 38 years, but we had some uh fun looking back through pictures. One of our teachers had kept uh her class photo and the staff photo every year that she's been in the district, which is has been 26 or 27 years. So, we can go all the way back into that history and see Brian over the years. Uh
002Brian was as dedicated uh an individual as they come. And so, uh we just want to take a moment to remember him and uh send our condolences and best wishes and sympathies to his family. Thank you. And also before we begin, in the hopefully extremely unlikely case that weather turns, um our shelter in place location is down this main hallway downstairs uh and you would uh stand along the walls or sit along the walls if you choose to. Uh there's one one occasion where we've had a board meeting that was interrupted. We were at Sullivan and the storm siren went off and we all went what should we do? We should probably get out of the library. So we went down the hallway. So hopefully uh we won't need to do that. But just from
003a safety perspective in the event that um we've got we have some hard uh we'll be going down this hallway into the the lower level here at Eisenhower. Okay. And now >> do I need that either of >> Tonight we're joined by two of our MacArthur graduates who will tell us about a very special award that they won. And we'll all stand and they'll lead us in the pledge. >> Perfect. Great to stand for all. >> Welcome. Thanks for coming out tonight. We have to battle with the fans, so we got to speak as loudly as we can using our best indoor teacher voices. Tell us your name and um what do you want? out of the car. Everybody gets one. Tell us a little. Okay. And uh what are the requirements in order to
004have this? >> So a lot of times in schools we recognize kids who are great students, straight A's. That's awesome. Athletes go to state. Fantastic. That's great. That's awesome. But this is that really recognizes good character, people who are kind and thoughtful and good classmates and helpful. Um, do you think that describes you or were you totally shocked like I would >> find out? It's a big surprise, right? For those of us that have known you for a long time, Mr. probably reversible back when you were in second grade. We've known you for quite a while. We've seen these skills kind of come up and develop, which is amazing. What does high school look like for you now that you're graduating? Where are you going next year? And what are you thinking about doing? develop
005partnership with Chicago. I've known you guys for a long time. We don't have a you know inel that like you just real quickly but it won't be real quick but could you just run through some of the activities that you were part of at retire We get a sense of just how wellrounded you are. And then I also feel like I feel like I also love it. Thank you for making us so proud. You represent 23 so well and we wish you nothing but a lawyer and congratulations to you again. And I'm sure you guys have a very busy summer going into high school. That's all I keep hearing about. So, you are free to stay, but you also are free to go, too. All right. At each regular and special open meeting, members of
006the public and district employees may comment on or ask questions of the board of education. If you would like to address the board, please complete a pink sheet over by Miss O'Donnell in her volume. I have four so far. First up is Isaac Baker. All right, great. Well, thank you very much. >> Oh, yeah. >> My name is Ruber. I live here in my kids. Well, my daughter just graduated from 8th grade, so she no longer attends district 23, but my son still does. First of all, thank you to board 7 for being here tonight. Thank you to parents for showing up. Um, I want to share that I recognize that everyone is here because we all want what's best for our kids. I just don't think that we all necessarily see eye to eye.
007So, I just wanted to take this opportunity and again, thank you for that. Um and uh we have seen countless studies and I printed out a short list here um across uh that access to iPads provide students with greater learning opportunities, higher test scores, access to higher levels of educational materials based on individual learning plans and accelerated paces of learning. iPads in the classroom give our teachers more information on where our kids are struggling, who has turned in homework, and allows them to personalize education for their students. homework never gets lost or crumpled or buried at the bottom of backpack. Something that I'm sure we've all seen. Um, and I have some of these sources here as well. I've seen personally at the high school level that I work at how kids use their iPads
008responsibly and effectively. I see how they benefit, how they use AI tools to help them get a greater understanding of the subject. I watch as they develop skills and tools to be self-reigned. And the tools that they're using don't get tired. they don't need sleep. They are able to give them additional avenues that we just as people may not think of when we are sleeping. Um, and let's not skip the part where district 23 is providing our kids with equal access. Everybody in the school at a certain rate gets an iPad, which means they all have the ability to use it and funds are no longer an issue. And any if we remove those opportunities, some families may be able to afford it and purchase an iPad on their own, providing an inequity within our
009district and because families who cannot afford won't. Removing iPads would in no one's concerns create a greater disparity in our community. And let's get that imagine cutting your yard with a sickle or insisting that a carpenter build your house without power tools. These are equivalent examples to removing iPads from our students. They are tools that we use and often we as adults view them as tools. Thank you. I get that attacking classrooms is scary because we don't control it. We work their whole lives to ensure that they won't need us, but we will stunt them if we cannot keep up with their peers. And we need them to be able to have these tools so that they can keep up with real world future uh real world applications in the future. They need to understand
010how tack works in high school and in college and in the real world. Um please don't follow our kids educational advice by giving our kids by for our kids by taking away valuable tools for their future. >> Thank you. >> Next up I have Deon All right, same. >> Yes, my name is Deon Schaefer. Before I begin, I want to thank you all for your time serving on the school board. I know that many of the decisions you make rarely satisfy every stakeholder involved. So, I appreciate your willingness to learn uh listen to those of us who are on the court tonight. As Harry said, my name is Deon Schaefer. I am the father of a four-year-old who will soon enter our school system, but I'm also a teacher at Cross High School where I
011teach JP history and US history. That gives me a unique perspective as both a parent and this morning I completed a final requirement of a graduate level course. One of the tools that helped me complete my coursework was I used it to create study guides from left school chapters that help edit my writing before submission. Those are the kinds of responsible uses of AI that I try to teach my high school students. But I would be lying if I said I was never tempted to use responsible. There were point of view when I chosen outside my office and knew that I could ask. was the desire to actually learn the material and understanding their shorts shortcuts come with consequences by providing students with constant access to AI through personal devices. We are asking them to
012make the same decision that adults struggle to make. In my experience, many students choose an easier path and allow technology to do the thinking for them rather than develop the critical thinking skills that school is supposed to build. But my concern tonight is on AI. As part of prospect's professional learning process, participated in a book study by Johan Focus. One of the book central arguments is that many of the digital tools surrounding us are intentionally designed to capture and hold our attention for as long as possible. Their success is measured by engagement and screen time. As a high school teacher, I see the consequences every day. Many teachers across notice that students increasingly struggle to sustain focus, read their text, work through difficult problems, and engage in the kind of deep thinking that learning requires.
013While there are many factors involved, it is difficult to ignore the role that constant access to personal technology. Elementary School should be where children learning books, write with a pencil, have conversations with classmates, solve problems without immediate digital assistant, and develop the ability to focus on one task for an extended period of time. These are foundational skills. Technology certainly has a place in education. I use it every day as a teacher and benefit from it in my own graduate coursework. But just because a tool is useful does not mean it should be used all the time at every age. I am not asking for the elimination of technology. I'm simply asking that we be more cautious in elementary school and more intentional in middle school. Most importantly, I'm asking that we give our youngest students
014something to become increasingly aware the ability to learn, think grows. Thank you for your time. Next, I have Dorothy. Hello, my name is Rogat and I'm a parent of two D23 kids. For the first time in human history, our children are less cognitively capable and do worse on literacy, numeracy, creativity, and general I IQ than we did at the same age. Across America, students are performing than their peers. Just 10 years ago, reading scores were down last year in 83% of school districts, including district 23. This cognitive decline is well documented and correlates when screens were introduced to school to students both at home and at school. Our children have been beta testers of improvement technologies at the expense of their education and their social emotional well-being. I am asking the school board and administration
015to re-evaluate the onetoone program and provide answers to the following questions. How much time is being spent on screens at each grade level. What apps are being used and what purpose? What teacher protocols exist around devices to ensure delivery and justify boost? What protections are in place on school issued devices that prevent students from intentionally or unintentionally accessing inappropriate content? What protections are in place to protect students data when using third party apps? I'm a district 23 alum and high school teacher with 22 years of experience. In 2011, I volunteered to participate in the pilot lunchon program at high school. This was before there were any restrictions placed on iPads and teachers were told to make more entertaining lessons that they wanted their kids to be paying attention. Pressure to gamify lessons and make every
016lesson fun and easy is not learning. Although tech has changed, foundational cognitive development has not. We learn from humans. Learning requires sustain focus, a motivating teacher, and rarely is easy. The cost of ignoring these truths isn't to our task force is the slow erosion of qualities every parent hopes to see in their child. The ability to think deeply, to connect meaningfully with others, and to shape the larger world. Learning tech skills is valuable, but it does not mean it should be the conduit from which every subject is taught. Fashion management platforms like Schooly, we're reshaping kids to fit tools instead of using the iPad as a tool. For example, everything is mal paper and some had to digitally put these answers into schooly using fractions and decimals and every He made a typo, went to
017school, he had to take the place again and again and again. He did the work. He shouldn't be forced to waste valuable time validating ineffective use of that. Teachers are not to be blamed. No teacher in history 23 went into the profession to um entertain students or to prom software. Crime surgeon general report issued a call for student for schools to prioritize school paper assignments and handwritten work and to be more intentional about the technology used for instruction. They are the tech leaders have been doing with their own children living the use the same devices they sold us. There's no shame in thinking that we made a mistake by introducing too much technology. The part of shame lies the failing to recognize we take responsibility for that mistake and not take action forward to hearing
018from the board and working with this to you. iPads were not designed for learning or for children. In either concert effort to learn in school, for example, on my school show iPad, I showed my mom what kids do in class. I showed her a website of unlock of unblocked game where we watched a fiveinut commercial that included the a word the f word and the word before she was able to play a game where people the tech companies are sensing to get attention. So even with our school less intentions, we have no match the $400 billion edited industry in introducing distraction games, videos in and off task browsing that rob children of precious instructional time. Despite not having a single high quality independent study shows that already improves learning, we continue to use this app
019at D23. So now I already decided how I'm learning, what I'm doing, and what class I should take. and not the teacher. This happened with myself in the math diagnostic. I took the math master one time and I and I did not get into advanced math. The other time I took it and I did get into advanced math showing that I already can't show that I should take a certain class. I'm impressed in clarity on how our district handles the data and connection with I Ready platform, especially in the light of the federal class option lawsuit brought against her associates company that makes I Ready and Apparently not proud of Ready until the case is concluded regarding the valuations that the company collects and generates vast amounts of personal information that students I read beyond
020traditional education records, creating detailed data profiles. They all shared in real time with third third parties, including advertising and analy without obtaining proper parental consent and violating duties and crimes under multiple federal and state laws. Thank you for your time. >> All right, Christina. My name is Christina Shandro and my oldest child just graduating 8th grade at MacArthur. Her favorite teacher was Mr. Sult, the algebra teacher. He's a great teacher. She didn't like my hers, but she loved me and amazing. Um, my younger two children, a fifth grader and a seventh grader, are currently homeschooled. I plan to continue homeschooling them all the way through the end of middle school unless D23 changes its iPad policies. The deal breakers for me are number one, iPads being sent home. Number two, the excessive use of iPads
021in school and number three, the corresponding decline in academic standards. Number one, I would like to see iPads never sent home. Paper homework only. No technology forced on families. If you send my kid home with an iPad, I will not be sending my child to T23. If you make it the standard for iPads to be sent home so that declining the iPad makes my family an outlier, I will not be sending my child to D23. I would like my child to have a childhood and an education and the iPad disrupts both. Number two, I would like to see iPad time monitored and limited for all middle school students to a total of an hour a day or less. Each student's total iPad time for the school day should be reported to parents on a daily
022basis. I want the school held accountable for wasting my kids' time because research shows that educational screen time is a waste of time in many situations. I want to know how much time my students spend in front of a screen each day. And I think I should have the right to know that. I can imagine a better system where iPads are kept on a cart and a specific teacher applies ahead of time for the iPad cart to be delivered to their classroom for a specific approved activity. And if the iPad uh that day would cause the student's screen time to exceed 59 minutes, uh the iPad part needs to be reserved by that teacher for a different day. I would like iPad use at school to be rare, not ubiquitous and useful and not a
023waste of time. And yes, academic standards at MacArthur were disappointingly low. Um the eighth grade language arts class was supposed to read to kill a mockingb bird this year, the American classic. But instead of requiring the students to read the entire book, the ELA teachers decided together to have the students read a short summary of the first four chapters. And my daughter said to me, "Mom, it's crazy. We're on chapter five and a bunch of kids in my class don't even know who Scout is." And that's the main character. You can't connect with the main character unless you read the book. You can't connect with the main character by reading a chapter summary. And the students had the the teachers had the students reading um chapter summaries for other chapters, too. So this was the
024the big book assigned for the spring semester and no one was required to actually read the entire book. My kid read the book cover to cover because not reading the book is not an acceptable academic standard. And having a conversation with other people who also read the book cover to cover would have been a better academic experience. And that's why I've chosen to homeschool my younger two children. Thank you for listening to my concerns. Is there anyone else that wanted to address the floor? All right, thank you all for coming. Um, we are moving on to communications. Awesome. First up is the triple I >> Michelle uh triple I registration which is the statewide professional development for board of education members uh opened in first week of June. You got us in and reser made
025our reservations and purchase. Is there anybody I don't want to call them out publicly call anybody out but we're all good. All right, we're all good. So, we'll be looking forward to participating in uh the triple I conference this November. Uh the second item is uh again an invitation for members of the board, for our community at large um to participate in the Prospect Heights Fourth of July parade. That should say July 5th or fourth. >> It is the fourth. Yes, it is July the 4th is the parade. I don't know why. Apologize for that. Um, but there is a QR code that has been shared with uh students and staff and parents. And we have about 25 people or so participating at this time. At the Memorial Day parade in Arlington Heights, we have
026a little over 30 30 35 people. in that neighborhood which was great and um just a nice way to to be present in the community. So I would encourage folks to uh participate in that. Uh one other communication item that was uh shared with Eisenhower families at the end of this school year that will be a major theme for us as we transition into next school year. Uh, as was shared earlier in the groundbreaking uh, ceremony, the um, east lot here at Eisenhower will be completely uh, blocked off. It'll be gated and fenced off while the construction begins in July and will go through August of 2027. that will create uh a one-year uh really difficult uh situation with a lot of traffic uh coming through just the one west lot. So, there are some
027solutions that we're trying to put in place including a staggered bus arrival and drop off, parent pickup and drop off. Um so, we're going to be pretty strict about that um once the school year starts. And uh part of our messaging is to encourage the community to take advantage of bus and uh leave the driving to us and um that will at least for one year help to alleviate the traffic congestion. The benefit of that east parking lot when it's remodeled is that it'll be purely dedicated to parents pickup, drop off, and parking. But It's going to take us a year of enduring um some traffic snarls. So, just wanted to share that with the board and community. That information has been sent to IP families and will again be echoed throughout the summer and
028fall. I think those are all my communication. >> All right. Next up, we have committee reports. I'm going to pass this to Tracy for building insights. building site committee met on June 2nd. Um the teachers right at the school closed um cleared all the rooms and um got ready for the construction. So we're doing the siding and the windows at Svin. So our principles uh are going to be working for the summer. While that's going on, demo and landscaping is going on. Usually around August 10th, we're going to be getting some new landscaping done. They'll be doing some demo at landscaping in the front office week. So, this week we're going on there will be a library mural installation this week as well. and are packing up has been packing up the library. The we
029have a replacement of the kiln for the art class at Mac that need to be decommissioned. Um we'll be getting rid of the one at Ross all together. So just sort of replacing one at we just have one of the artills going which is really all we need. Uh we'll be replacing the SAR as part of our fiscal year 27 budget. Um we've already placed the one at Svin. This one will be for Ross and >> Yes. I just wanted to clarify. >> Yeah, we uh presented the year-to- date revenues and expenditures as we wrap the 26 fiscal year. So, we went through that. Uh we talked about the kill intercom system as well, action items for tonight. And then we went through builder's risk insurance and the workers compensation insurance. All right. Next up
030is from uh we uh the meeting was started with a moment of silence for Gloria Castro who was a longtime uh staff member at Kirk who passed away unexpectedly. She was worked closely with many of the families there over the years as a bilingual assistant, but was much more over there. And um Jennifer Browning, who's the principal at Kirk, gave a reflection on her and included thoughts from the staff. Um the shining star which is every month was student from uh prospect Cameron who uh is has been part of the vision program for a while. She is in the life program 224 which is their transition program. Uh she this this they gave information um kind of a report on her uh progress uh to employment at the High Hotel Kitchen and included how she
031advocates for herself communicating vision issues that are related to the work that she needs to do and needs to do with her colleagues. Uh there was a followup presentation then in along those lines from Becky Dusk and Nicole Viscante uh on the um Nissios works jointly with the department of rehabilitative services through a program called PET which is pre-employment career training. Uh so they talked about how that program has progressed over the time that they've been involved in it and in 10 years uh the program the funding from DRS has gone from 370,000 to uh over 800,000 in 10 years. So it's been very successful. it's been a model for other other uh districts as well. Uh there was an update on the NSSO foundation and they reviewed a lot of what NSSO the foundation
032funds is mini grants uh that the teachers apply for. So things like different kinds of clubs, a cooking club, different outings, the f fall and winter festival at Sloic and the parent parent educational resource center that's at on the Kirk campus. The superintendent report started with um just a short review of the draft resolution that the board had asked the administration put together which is in the packet tonight. We will be taking action on that later. Um and there was uh new assign new committee assignments for the board members. So, um, a business services update. The 20 26 27 NCSO budget that we all approved last month uh was approved through the directed votes from all the member districts and we were not able to vote on the CBA for NSSCA. The union as they
033had not agreed to it yet. So we are still working on that. Human resources uh Brad Carter did a report a summary of the humanex survey which is a climate and culture survey that NSSO does every year. uh and they take that information and uh make adjustments uh to improve climate and culture um as the year goes on. NSO usually has a they score pretty well on that, but um it gives a lot of data that allows you to kind of focus in on certain aspects. The board approved a um special education teacher apprentice pathway program that Loyola is doing. This program helps to um helps current support staff like the par profofessionals earn their special education teacher license. So that's helps pathway to teachers which they're especially for special education teachers. The board approved
034a number of policy updates uh as a second reading of those policies. Um and um Molly Dunn did a report of the program task force that's been in effect since the new um articles have been put in place and um that's >> all right. Thank you. Um, moving on to our next item, which is the consent agenda. Tonight's consent agenda includes our minutes from our regular meeting and executive session both from May 14th and the personnel report. Do I have a motion? Moved by Spencer. Do I have a second? Second by Tracy. Any discussion on any of the items? Uh, can I get a little help, please? >> Motion carries. 6. Next up is the financial report. >> Mary Lynn had that this Mary Lyn had that this month. Um, Amy, anything to report back?
035Yeah, I didn't hear anything from her either. So, and I looked a couple times. So, I'll make a motion to approve the financial report as presented. Second by um can any conversation by Becky, second by Bren. Can I get a roll call, please? >> Yes. Motion carries 6. Next up is our superintendent report. >> Thank you. Uh the first item is an action item for the boards. This is our annual review of the strategic plan including the specific objectives that will be on the plate so to speak for next school year. uh they have historically been presented in a list view where we sort of have the goals uh numbered. This is part of our 20 uh 2023 through 2028 the current strategic plan we're part of. Um last year we sort of modified that
036view to help us also reflect the prioritization because everything we do has to get done. um in some way, shape or form. Uh sometimes it gets deferred in future years. We wanted to be more clear about which ones were top priorities and less likely to be deferred. Um and so I just wanted to I presented the entire uh plan in the board packet. We will include it also in uh the school scene tomorrow. But a couple of the um priority uh items that I want to point out um that the board uh the administration teaching staff who all had input into the process uh identified. Um we will be specifically focusing uh continuing our focus around um standardsbased practices and aligning our instruction curriculum and instruction so as to enhance some of the consistency of
037delivery of instruction. We um are looking into um some different ways of serving our special education students uh through some co-eing models that we will be piloting and um implementing where appropriate. at MacArthur. Next year, we will be providing an ind district geometry course. As we talked about in policy, there's some new pathways for um us to accelerate and provide high school credit in our partnership with the high school. So, Dr. Curtis is working on anou that we will bring to the board in August. Um but that in district geometry course will allow us to um create sort of a different pathway for um accelerated instruction. Uh as we've been talking about, we have um some financial sustainability needs. Um and so we'll be continuing our work around a D23 referendum campaign. Uh and next
038year we're also up for negotiations with both our teachers union and our custodial union. So both of those uh will be top priorities. Uh two of the focused areas for investigation next year. One there's our uh one is um sort of a comprehensive look at our uh technology use. Um as was shared earlier this evening. uh we want to make sure that technology use is purposeful that it is balanced and appropriate. So um we have uh an investigation into that both in terms of identifying our current practices as well as generating um options and and policy changes uh as we move forward. Uh similarly um our focus around articulation for acceleration and gifted enrichment opportunities uh looking for um more clarity around um the differences between acceleration and enrichment um so that we're better able
039to serve students at the higher end of our performing uh band. Uh Dr. Shro will be working on an ESP mentoring program as a way to provide longer term support for our educational support personnel. Um we will be implementing uh planning for our full day kindergarten. So there will be some work around what that program will specifically look like. Um we have a goal to expand uh and encourage real world learning extending beyond the classroom by um connecting with families at home field trips, home connections um and application of learning skills uh in real time, in real life. and completing summer maintenance and construction projects on time and under budget um will be a top priority for us next year. And lastly, as we talked about in terms of safety and security, we will be
040implementing a new uh guest visitor management system with external doors locked at Ross, Sullivan, and MacArthur at the end of this summer's construction. So there will be a uh two buzz system, one to enter the vestibule and then one to enter the office. Just that added layer of security. Um the other goals are important for sure, but they don't fall under our critical category. So I just wanted to highlight some of those key components uh and thank the board for your participation in our workshop to help guide these goals, our administrative team, and our district improvement team, uh, staff and faculty who contributed as well. Happy to entertain any questions that you might have regarding our strategic plan. I have a second to borrow some of it. my own personal work sometimes. So, I just
041want to thank the way you played it out, I thought was really well done. So, >> yeah, I think this has been really helpful as we continue to look at our strategic plan and how we're um tying it to everything we do now, right? Like your strategic plan is only as good as it is if we talk about it. And so, I think that it's great that we're continuing to prioritize pieces of it because everything feels important. So I'm excited for the nextbody else. I will take a roll call very loudly over this nice rain. >> Yes. >> Motion carries 6. The next thing up is the sustainable financing presentation. >> Okay, we're gonna go to grad. >> Okay, school improvement plan. Do that next. So, if you guys want to skip that, please. >>
042And this will be an action item. It's necessary for the board to um after hearing this review to uh vote to submit and then our team will submit this to the state. Um and I want to thank Dr. Stroka and Dr. Curtis and Miss Mezier, Miss Uza for all of your work on this. Thank you. Um Dr. Stroa, Miss Biz and I are here to present our targeted school improvement plan. Go to the next slide, Mr. All right. So, our short agenda, we are going to do a quick overview of the designation. Um because we know several months ago we had a more in-depth discussion of the data and why our designation was targeted. We'll talk through our planning and action steps for the school improvement plan, the goals that we've come up with, and
043how we are spending the funds from the grant that we also received as part of this targeted design. So overall, our school was commendable and every subgroup was commendable. The one subgroup that we received the targeted designation for was students with disabilities and that was due to um three of the four factors that they were below we can control. One of the other factors was achievement. We know that they are students with IEPs they struggle to meet that bar and that's why they have um individualized education plans. But the three areas we can control were the five essentials, climate survey, absenteeism, and student growth. Um, so we'll talk a little further about each of those. So the five essentials piece was really procedural. We did not have as many of our students with IEPs take
044the five essentials which possibly was also tied to the absenteeism piece but we also have to just make sure all of those kids take the five essentials survey and then remove students who are not capable of taking the survey from the count. Um in terms of the attendance piece uh the attendance of our students with disabilities was lower than all of our other subgroups. So, we merged really hard this year um with teachers and our student services team to work with those families of the kids who are frequently absent to kind of help them support regular attendance and get them to school. Um the main focus of our school improvement plan, as you'll see, is a focus on um student growth for that subgroup. And in order to create that, we had to form a
045school improvement team to investigate and create a plan. And our school improvement team, as you can see, was made up of um central office administration, teachers, myself, our school psychologist, our instructional coach. So, and it wasn't just classroom teachers, we had specialist teachers, some of our specialists because we we really wanted everybody's voice as a part of creating our plan. All right. And then hand it over to Missa. Um so once we had our team we started planning um and the planning started in November and through February. Um these are some of the things that we did. We applied for and received a title one planning grant. Um as a team we completed the Illinois quality family survey and we came to a consensus on that. So we agreed on each area with that framework
046and then we completed a root analysis which determined the areas of focus that we wanted to um address and problem solve those steps. So then starting in March, we started putting some of our our action steps in place. Um we formalized and created a three-year school improvement plan that has specific goals um in instructional delivery, math, and reading and >> stormy weather. We amended the grant to reflect um some the spring tutoring that Colleen did in the spring and then we are actually continuing that in the summer which um started actually this week for some some more targeted students. Um, and then we also re receive board approval for the school improvement plan hopefully tonight. And then we will submit the target school proof of plan grant application after this to continue moving forward next
047year. >> And um just for the students included in the tutoring because we are grade level centers. Half of our kids who were in this designation were right at MacArthur this year and after this year they're all MacArthur and we know that we have students with disabilities coming to us from Ross. So the kids included in our tutoring this summer are from coming into third grade and then going into seventh grade. We're really trying to catch that broader group of kids because the kids that um were in the school and received that designation are now gone and we're trying to make sure that the kids coming up receive this appropriately. Um so uh like you mentioned we have three school grant uh goals and goals. The first is around um our reading progress. So specifically
048looking at the students who are in our lowest um growth category, that red group as we call it on our acro data. Um taking a look and helping 25% of those students. So not all students with disabilities because a lot of them are growing. So we're really looking at those students who aren't growing um and helping them grow meet their growth and stretch growth um on high. So those are some activities that we'll be doing around that first goal. Second goal um is focused on math. Pretend you can see it. Um and it is very similar. So again, all those kids that are in the red, we would focus on that group and helping them grow and meet their stretch growth um for math um ready schools. And then the third goal is really around
049um the work that the teachers are doing um in learning new strategies to support the students. So, we're going to have a focus on co-eing and um co-planning for the teachers who support the general education teachers and special education teachers that support those students um in their classrooms. Um we're going to use a rubric that we're working on creating to do some observations, give some feedback around um putting accommodations in place, modifying their curriculum, using some teaching strategies um and then also supporting the having really good conversations um about student growth when they're meeting and talking about the kids data. So um that's part of the second goal that we have or third. And then the last um so we did get um an aotment of funds in January um and we were allotted for
050the SIP grant for next year an additional $31,000. So those funds are going to be utilized to um help partnership with North Cook. um they'll be helping us do some of the um professional development around teaching and teacher collaboration. Um so we're excited about that. Um we'll also spend some of those dollars on some intervention materials. Um and then also um doing some initial training in our classrooms around champs which is a uh expect classroom expectations behations um process. We're going to also continue to expand our tutoring services that we were able to do in the spring continue into summer and then also continue into the fall. Um so we're excited about that. Any questions? In the board um book, the actual school improvement um plan that we have to submit um with the grants
051is included for you to review. But this is just a summary. Thank you. Just a question. So you started >> not right here. We'll keep our ears open, but keep >> be safe if you're going to leave and not say >> just a question on feedback from parents and from students after this. We had um a small group of kids tutoring and it was a short period of time. It was just about seven, eight weeks. Um the we had really good attendance. Overall, we had several teachers who with the tutoring and were interested. So they were able to break the kids into small groups really based on their needs and acquiring. The teachers loved it. They had a great time with the kids. Um they said we had student feedback was positive. Um, and many
052of those kids signed up for the summer tutoring opportunity and actually more some of the kids who didn't sign up during the school year um are school and I was just in two of those classrooms today and they were having a great time doing some novel studies and reading and doing some math. So the feedback has been really positive and you know at the end of the summer program we'll definitely survey parents get their feedback on what their kids were saying at home if they know what you wanted to do. Can I get a motion? Any more discussion? Can I get a roll, please? >> Yes. >> Dr. Summers. All right. Next up, I don't know if you want to stay. All right. Next up, go back. >> Oh, sorry. I >> sorry. We'll go
053back to sustainable financing. Um really this is an opportunity for the board to have conversation to provide direction to administration. Um, as we have been presenting over the past number of months, uh, structural deficits and limited resources will require additional program and services cuts, staffing and personnel cuts um, without new revenue. And so the balance of what we're able to maintain and provide, what we're able to enhance or grow is obviously limited by uh where uh our expenses go. And just like in our home lives, um many of those expenses are out of our control. we're not we're all experiencing, you know, lots of increased costs on every dayto-day things that impacts the school district as well um and often times on a much larger scale. So part of the conversation for the board is
054to um having seen some of the different potential options, potential solutions, um is there a direction you'd like us to go in for bringing question or investigation to a vote in August or other information you'd like us to research? Anybody? >> Sorry. So, we are open for discussion. So, looking at the three three seasons of the boat, where we would like to go and what kind of where we'd like to head. So, I can start. Anybody have anything they'd like to ask or guide? I have not heard any official action being taken. Uh I know that district 214 is having conversation about that as well. there was potential for local government but I haven't heard anything further from them no one has we have to take action by August 2017 um so other bodies are
055the same kind of deliberation but those are the two we've heard about So I think this is kind of where we are each time we get to this point is we don't know who else is going out for referendum. So we're basing that on a best guess scenario for discussion. Do we have a direction we would like to have down in the team head as we at, you know, we we saw the numbers last month about one and a half million or two two million or two and a half million or 3 million what that does um for us operationally. So do we have some thoughts on that? I mean the day or not, but no matter what number we choose, in theory, it's somewhat kicking the can down the road because it's just not
056enough money in general. >> Well, it's likely that the amount of money that we would need to be really comfortable is going to be well more than what the community would provide. >> So, any amount we choose is still is still not not enough. kind of job. Correct. The more money we obviously generate, the more capacity we have to maintain that over time. But again, I think the key economic factor is that it gets confused because we as taxpayers see our taxes go up every year, but the tax rate has not in our district since 1987. >> So I was going to ask 1987 last time we have >> comparing ourselves to neighboring districts who have made incremental steps. We have a ways to go, but it's I think it's the message that we wanted
057to make clear was that it's a structural deficit and it will require likely changes in our assumptions, changes and reductions into staff no matter what dollar amount they choose. But there needs to be, in my opinion, some additional revenue at whatever appetite that community may have because we can't even maintain what we're currently providing without additional revenue more than two years. Um, I should know this. What was the per amount for last $350,000 >> sorry 356 >> 356 >> so the last referendum that we had asked was a $356 6 ask for a $350,000 home with a $1.1 million operational on it. That was a $356 pass. The $1.1 million ask is gone because we took out the bonds for Please correct me if I'm wrong. >> We refinanced the bonds. So the 1.1 million
058is gone. The the the one that stays the same is the upper base. >> The base rate increase. >> So a $1.5 million. So 1.5 a limiting rate tax increase of 1.5 would be a tax rate increase of.189. So on a $350,000 home that would be $182. A $2 million limiting rate tax increase which is a 0.252 would be $242. 2.252 would be the x I'm sorry.252 252. There's a lot of points in that. Sorry. A $2.5 million limiting rate tax increase would be a tax rate increase of.315, which would be a $33 impact on a $350,000 home. And then if we went to the $3 million ask, which is a 374 tax rate increase, we actually go over our last ask, which would be $364 on a $350,000 home. Those are annual an annual
059impact on your home. So the question for the board is what would we like the administration to do ahead of our August board meeting? Because if we are going to put a referendum on the November ballot, we would need to have an action on our August board meeting to do that. So are we wanting Don to We have the numbers in front of us. Would we like to explore you know a couple of these options? What are we thinking is how we would like to move forward. probably middle of the road to Upperwood and we need to talk through that in detail because I think what what we should Personally, I think if we go for the smallest and then have to ask again next year, I don't know that the appetite will be there.
060And I also know that it's been off elections. This is a chance to get a November election. However, if the same people district or other, I think that's a real consideration that we maybe need to reach out to because double hitting everyone here also isn't. But I do think this is our chance at getting a decent election turnout because of the November cycle and we know that the numbers are two. >> Yeah. I don't think we should um go to referendum passes on the lowest one and go again. I think if we're going to go, we're going to go the higher ones and then explore those options. Explore what that means and the impact. Um have conversations with community. them, educate them and say, "Yes, we we were able to refinance our debt, but that
061doesn't necessarily erase our need and here's the repercussions. Here's what we're facing. This isn't a nice to have. It's a must have when we're trying to make a minimum impact to the community. But if we don't do that, this is what I think that we should talk about what the best options are. And that again >> and just being really clear what it is deserves to hear because if we're saying we're we're asking for a reference and to go above and beyond your wildest dream that's not what we're doing. We're saying to maintain what you've seen today and potentially grow programs that students interested in we need to do this. It's not that we're asking this may not be a fair assumption, but I would assume any plan potentially requires some cut somewhere either one,
062right? So, I mean, I I'm in agreement. I think we have to look at the higher end, but I still think part of that needs to show what we're still giving up process. So, I that's where I'm at. You're welcome. >> So for any of these asks that you can predict a timeline, you know, I know I know you can't like put lots of accuracy, but can you give us an idea? You know, if we do go with the first one, this will give us two years with still with cuts, but it'll we'll be okay for two years. And then what the other ones were? >> Yeah. Sort of combining that question with Spencer's the model, the base model that we have already reflects $400,000 in staffing cuts to establish our baseline for uh full
063day. So we've we created that baseline built upon the 10% budget reductions, the 5% is it 5% per pupil 10% per pupil reduction. So they already reflect just our base already reflects year-over-year overyear cuts. And then Carol to your point yes one of the tools that we can provide would be running our base model with whichever options through the projection model to show and we did that in one example in the sustainability and that was the base model with a minimum amount and it got us two maybe three more years. Um, again in the in the mix of other decisions that need to be made, staffing assumptions, etc. But yes, we would provide that for if we borrow if if we were successful in gaining a $3 million, it would push the underwater mark out
064to 2035. It's going to be somewhere in that range. and then it's closer and closer. Yeah. But we would definitely be able to provide that. I think our intention in the presentation was to show that the bare minimum really doesn't do anything for us. It really doesn't solve any issues and it doesn't really help. The top end we recognize is probably above the appetite of the community. The has already told us that that dollar amount was too high. But the two middle options, the um maintaining our current programming option and then the ISBY adequacy model um somewhere in that range between two and 2.8 8 um is likely uh would are kind of the two mo two of the four models that we presented that would likely be um our recommendation. >> All right. So
065are we good with them preparing You guys want to go for three? show if we did three what that would mean for us and the community >> and the students. You could do a two and two or three. is a lot of money. And so what can happen? Perfect. All right. Thank you guys. Thank you for that. Next up, we will go to programming. >> Yes. Thank you for Tracy bringing that point up as well because I was talking earlier this evening with one of our guests and you know there are things that are out of our control and there are things that are in our control and unfortunately things that are out of our control are state funding and county tax collection and county processing and at the end of the day we still
066are responsible for providing that. So that's sign as the board knows that's a significant reason why we chose to act because we acted with the information and the data and the revenues and the resources that we could measure and that we did have control over. So, um stay tuned on Cook County because they've already told us it's going to be a couple of months late. Okay. >> Okay. I think we're good. We will bring that forward. Um in the packet tonight is uh a handful of other items. The uh programs and services report. Uh we anticipated tonight being uh heavy discussion. So rather than a presentation, uh doctors Curtis and Sroa and Miss Guza and Mr. Holmes contributed toward uh our annual report. We like to do that a couple of times a year where
067we introduce the goals of our programs and services. We give an update in the middle of the year and then uh kind of give a report at the end of the year. And again, uh, while we certainly know there's work to be done, um, I think, as you see in the report, there's a lot of work that has been done, there's been a lot of improvements and growth and, um, I appreciate their time and energy and effort and everybody who is responsible for carrying those plans forward. Any questions that we can answer at this time regarding programs and services? Okay, the next item is an action item. It is our enrollment and staffing update. Um the short answer is uh thank you kindergarten through fifth grade. We're at almost 100% of families needing to register
068who did. And in grades six through eight, we're hovering right around the 80% completion. So, we've got some some work to do there. Um our enrollment projections are coming in as projected in all grade levels uh except for first grade which is again significantly below where we uh the the calculations from our partners in the uh projection model um said they would be. So that is uh a grade level that we are watching. Uh sixth, seventh and eighth grade assuming that they come in as projected should be within our guidelines though at the top end. They're our bubble class again of seventh grade. Um if they come in much higher uh we will be approaching and exceeding that top end of our guidelines. So, as we do every summer, we will um monitor enrollment and
069uh continue to keep an eye on what our personnel and staffing needs are. Uh as I shared in the memo, uh an additional 0.2 FTE is being requested to allow um Mr. Mosek, who is our adapted and unified PE teacher. He actually works across all four buildings and um if there was a way for us to clone him and have him in two places at once, that would have been our preferred option. But um seeing as that's not the case, um an additional 0.2 FTE for um to serve at Ross and Sullivan is needed. That would allow Mr. Mosak to stay at MacArthur to fulfill his unified PE uh sections. Other than that, the rest of the staffing plan um remains. >> Yes, please. Motion to approve as presented. Wonderful. What happened? Probably nothing. No,
070we would likely see a section reduction in first grade, whether that results in a cut to a personnel or a shift due to um our grant, federal grant funding um being reduced to provide our intervention services. Um that would be an option that we would consider um potentially shifting a section to seventh grade is an option that we would consider. Um, so it would likely if the numbers stay where they are, we would likely not uh have the same number of sections in anybody else. Um there's I mean we've made that decision ideally before the start of the school year but we have had to make that into the school year. Um the patterns of people moving in there still is a mindset that school doesn't start until after Labor Day. And so we may
071think we're in really good shape and then we're in session for two and a half weeks and then post Labor Day we get a flood of residents uh asking to register and we have then had to modify. If we go down a first grade section, we'll do that before the school year even starts, before schedules are run because we need to uh move move students, move staff. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, that would happen by our August board meeting. >> Yes. Yeah. The next item is also an action item as Carol mentioned. um NSSO organization developed a resolution regarding school access and um it is being sent to all the member districts for a directed vote. So we would suggest vote yes, vote no. Uh Carol would then take that vote back and want to cast
072that on our behalf. Carol, I believe they're looking to do that in their August meeting. Motion to approve. Any discussion? I roll call on a yes motion for breakfast. The next one is >> yes an action item. Again, this is in the 2627 budget. uh to replace the kiln at MacArthur. Any discussion about >> Wonderful? Next item is also an action item is the replacement of the Sullivan intercom system in FY27. by Spencer. Do I have any discussion? Yes. >> Next item is an action item. did is purchase some of furniture, some additional classroom furniture for our sale program and some new cafeteria tables right here. >> Yeah, you can vote on this. amount to approve. Do I have a second? Second by Zuss, please. Yes. Next item is also an action item. It is
073uh securing builder's risks insurance for our Eisenhower construction project. by Zara. Any discussion? >> I so much. >> All right. Any other discussion? >> Got it. I'll do all of that. Um, can I get a roll call, please? Oh my god. >> Next item is also an action item. It is our workers compensation insurance renewal through the self cooperative. insurance by any other. >> Wonderful. Can I get a roll call, please? Yes. One more. >> Next item is the contract for short-term custodial services. Uh, as uh we're aware, Brian's passing as well as an unfilled vacancy that had been existing in our custodial services put a bit of a strain on us over the summer. So, some temporary custodial staffing will help us to allow our full-time folks to take their vacations and sick days
074as they are entitled to without us losing productivity. I know. Can I get a roll? Yes. We'll put second reading of policy. I should have had that on this time. >> I was so excited about groundbreaking construction. So, we'll put that on next time. Uh the last item is a Freedom of Information Act report. Uh unless you'd like Amy to go through each one of them. Suffice it to say, as they arrive, Amy as our FOY officer does a great job of investigating and responding to all reports. So, those are listed for your for the public. Uh I would say we've seen a pretty significant increase in the number of foyers that we're receiving. We typically don't have they have gotten to be what feels a little more automated. Um so we kind of want
075to balance those out a little bit. Um But >> the competition in the market is getting more significant. It's a lot easier for them to just be casting out these wide nets. We what we're seeing is a lot of information being requested on different procurements that we're doing. We saw a couple with the construction work. Lori gets them probably every other month requesting a number of different contenders. We saw some request for which is kind of new. Um what they're doing with it or what they're looking for. So just kind of it just feels like it feels like the bulk is focused on procurement contracts. >> We did see the legislative action in the last cycle. We absolutely policy that allows for some returning to the requester and asking are you really a person and
076are you really a human and are you really looking for this information or is it bot generated? Uh again for a variety of reasons that's getting the same kind of spam junk mail phone calls text messages and now foyer requests. So, um, as that legislation moves forward, we're supportive of anything that allows us to maintain our time and energy serving actual residents who actually have questions, who actually want information rather than companies or bots that are just fishing for names of everybody who's retiring so that I can send them advertisement. We receive a foyer typically as we drop what you're doing and respond and so Chris also has a number of technology requests in there. >> All right. Any business. >> Any new business? I'm going to >> We do have new business. It is
077our semianual review of executive. >> Well, it's a recommended motion. It's not one that it must be made. But historically, we have the the board has assigned the secretary to review those executive session minutes with me if there's any. >> So, we would set up a time to review those and determine what no longer requires confidential treatment. ahead. I don't ask you. >> Well, I move to appointment to conduct the semianual review of any discussion. >> All right. Oh man. >> Yes. All right. Next up is my motion to have no other roll, please. Oh, all in favor. Anyone here is