May Board of Education Meeting

001I'm a month rear. >> Let me join her today. >> Good evening everybody. I call to order the board of education meeting for Prospect Heights School District 23 for May 14th, 2026 at 7:01 p.m. Can I get a roll call, please? >> Mrs. Bowinsky >> here. >> Dr. Long >> here. >> Mrs. Mlan >> present. Mrs. Morsy >> here. >> Mr. Nordmark >> here. >> Mrs. Peters >> present. >> Dr. Summers >> here. First up, we have the Pledge of Allegiance. >> Yes. Tonight, we're joined by representatives from the MacArthur Wrestling Program who are going to lead us in the pledge and then we'll just ask them some questions about their amazing season that they had. Stand. Have them come on forward. >> You're perfect. Yeah, you're perfect. Right where you are. That's great. Right

002there is awesome. >> Right off the right off the ball field. Yeah. >> All right. >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Well, thank you all for coming. Uh you have a couple of exciting things to share with us. Uh first, would you start by telling us uh your name, what grade you're in, and if like is this your first time on the wrestling team, your fifth year? What whatever. Bella, we'll start with you. >> Um I'm Bella. I'm in seventh grade. I've been on the Mac wrestling team for two years now. I'm Cameron. I'm in seventh grade. I've been on the wrestling team for two years. >> I'm on the

003team for one year, but I've >> been on the wrestling team for two years now. >> All right. And this was a uh special season for a lot of reasons. What was one of the things that we were celebrating this year about wrestling? This year we became five time conference and regional champions. >> Wow. AWESOME. >> We beat our conference >> and it was, if I remember correctly, it was the winningest season that the wrestling program has ever had. We had the most victories this year than than ever before. So that is amazing. Uh Bella, not to put you on the spot, um but there's another uh new development in the wrestling program in the most past few years. Um what's it like being a female on the wrestling squad? >> It's definitely um a

004little different, but there's a kind of like understanding that you have with the guys because you all go through the same practices and you all do the same things. So you kind of get like a respect level in our mat room. Yeah. >> Like coming in just knowing that everyone's like doing the same things. It's also pretty cool because like we can still be on like the varsity team and go to all these tournaments and stuff and do what we weren't able to do like a couple years ago before we had girls on the team. >> So technically ina it is a co-ed sport and always has been but it wasn't all that common. uh maybe there'd be a girl here, a girl one year and then not the next. But this year um and

005in the past few years, we've had quite a few young ladies join us. And um can you speak to that a little bit? Who all was uh how many how many young ladies joined the team this year? I think we started with about 15 and towards the end of the year we had lost a few but we still had like seven or eight that really wrestled to like end of the year like conference and stayed throughout the season >> and there is a movement that will likely happen at well it'll happen at the high school level is already happening at the high school level and will be more formalized where there will be separate division a girls division and a boys division. So that's awesome. should be girls state next. >> Yeah. >> For middle

006school. >> And so, uh, Tyler, you said you wrestle outside of, um, here as well, outside of school. Tell us a little bit about that. What's that like? >> So, I also for the Arlington Cardinal. It's a really great program, and Ryan does it, too. A couple other kids on our team do it, too. And it's really fun. Um, great coaches, great staff. Um, all the people there are just awesome. And I get better there all the time. >> Yeah. So, it's it's kind of like travel programs and some of the other sports. There's actually wrestling clubs that that compete, too. So, do you are you on multiple things at the same time or >> Well, yeah, just MacArthur at the same time as the Cardinal, >> right? So, you wrestle here and then you

007go to practice here and then you go to wrestling after school and then you wrestle again. Like just constant wrestling, >> right? Yeah. >> So, Ryan, you're new this year to MacArthur, but you wrestled outside. What was your first year at MacArthur like? >> It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed like practicing after school every day, practicing with the school. >> Awesome. And Mr. Albert, you're uh from one sport to the next to the next. Tell us tell us about your season. >> Um I had a good season, a good record, got first in regionals. third in sectionals and six in the state. >> Did you you got injured at some point in the >> brother? >> Oh, that was your brother. Sorry. >> I knew there was an injury with the name Albert

008connected to it. Okay. So, then we went to state. How many do you know how many we sent to state and what that >> uh it was? Eight through the school, two through club. >> Okay. And how did we do as a team at state? >> Uh we had a state champion, a second place, two third place. >> Yeah, >> maximum. >> So first, second, third, third, sixth, sixth, and then I think we got seven. There's no >> so great representation. Not only did we send folks, but you all competed really well. What was your favorite thing about competing at SE? >> Having fun. >> Yeah, they all got they all got to eat Friday night for the first time in the whole season. >> What was that first? What was the first meal you

009ate? >> Pizza. >> Cut weight. You made weight and then enjoyed some pizza. >> Yes. Yes. >> That's awesome. Uh I don't believe um our state champion is here. Correct. >> Correct. >> But as an interesting story, I showed a picture. We had a tour with all of our construction folks here on one of the days that we were off and I showed the lineup of all the kids that went to state and I said, "Pick the state champion out of this list." And there are some some mers in that group. We had we had some physical specimens and they were ready to ready to throw some people around. And could you tell us who won state first and state? McGrath >> Harper McGrath and at like the 80 pound weight class or >> 90

010>> the smallest one in the picture but kick butt better than anyone else in the state apparently. So that's >> that's really awesome. So you guys did a great job representing uh your school and your clubs and your family. So thank you for all of that board. Any other questions for our guests today? You guys all gonna keep wrestling? >> Yeah, >> maybe. >> You got a lot going on. >> Not just at home with your brother, but competitively wrestling. >> Coach Becker does a fantastic job. >> Yeah, he really does. >> All right, >> cool. Well, thank you so much for coming out tonight. We do have uh certificates for you. Tyler. >> Oh, yeah. Sorry. >> Max, where's Ryan? >> No, I know. But sorry, inner monologue. I was doing Where's Ryan certificate?

011Are >> those connected? Wait, >> that's why it's wrong because it's Ryan Winterhalter, >> not Tyler. >> Tyler Lee. >> There we go. >> Got it. All right. >> TJ O'Donnell's >> Will you? Okay. Thank you. I'll get you. Uh if we can have you all come behind the board and board if we can create two rows with the wrestlers around you. If you guys would go down to that end, we'll take a quick photo of you with the board. >> And parents, if you want to grab a quick snapshot, you want to turn off the >> You got it. >> Perfect. I don't know. You guys all come in. >> Uh, if you want >> and let's put the three student the four students in front. There it is. >> Can you see Tracy?

012>> Uh, yes. Perfect. >> She looks like she's one of the wrestlers. >> One, two, three. >> I got mine. Parents, keep going. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> All right. >> WE'LL GET YOUR CERTIFICATE. ALL RIGHT. THANK you all for coming. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> It's really good. At each regular and special open meeting, members of the 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 one of the pink forms and give it to Mrs. O'Donnell, our recording secretary. We have one so far, but if anybody else wants to. Um, this first one is from Marisol Perez and Alison Brown. You guys would like to come forward. Come on up. >> Welcome back. It's good to see

013you guys again. >> Thanks for having us. We're glad to be back. >> Go ahead. >> Good evening. Manager. I would like to take this to express our gratitude for being part of us such incredible serving district has been absolute privilege. I thank you for uh to all the community for uh your support uh to the superintend who are so deeply supporting every day the successful students. This year we achieve a remarkable milestone by saving more meals than ever and making the kids happy every day. On behalf of the organ team, I want to say thank you for your trust and support uh for everything because in this place at this place I feel like being home. I feel like a family. I always have what I need. There's always help and support everybody and

014I Nice summer. Wonderful summer. >> They brought a delicious fruit tray. >> Thank you guys. >> Any other comments? Uh seeing none, we'll move into the communications. >> So uh we are celebrating uh volunteers this uh this evening and not just any volunteers but really and honestly um some amazing volunteers. Uh the first is a new award. We actually talked about this when we caught wind of uh a potential retirement uh and we wanted to express our gratitude to someone from the community who has been an absolutely fabulous partner. Um and so tonight we're issuing our first ever D23 community cornerstone award to uh Miss Alice Johnson from the PUBLIC LIBRARY. IS THAT before or after my magic trick? >> This was before. Okay. >> Um I I had the great privilege of um going

015on the second grade field trip today to the library. So um I've known Alice for a long time because you know my youngest one was there today, but just seeing her work her magic was pretty cool. And it the timing was perfect. I knew we were coming together tonight. But um yeah, so these are our second graders learning all about the fun things that the library is going to do for them all summer to keep them reading and engage. So >> and Alice and the entire team at the library have been phenomenal not only in serving the needs of residents of the library and and students and parents in the community. They've hosted events for our PTO annually, which is always a special time. They host our uh youth art display um every year, which

016is another great opportunity. But one of the things I think that makes uh Alice so special is that um she's not there because of the job or the title. She's not concerned about uh you have to be a Prospect Heights library patron in order to get her support or care or or service. Uh she supports all of the kids in our community and participates in our uh BPAC nights and in our resource fairs has been uh present at so many of our community events. I think again what drives that is a true passion for supporting literacy and a love of of reading um and has been instrumental in our drive to get every student um a library card and to have access to fantastic materials and services through the library. So when we were brainstorming

017who to give this cornerstone award, a partner in our community uh with whom we have built a phenomenal partnership, uh Alice was uh a clear and easy choice for us. So we want to say congratulations on your retirement. Thank you very much sincerely for all of your support and service and partnership over the years. And uh we look forward to continuing our partnership with the library. But Alice, uh, congratulations on this award and we'll, um, pose for a picture if you don't mind. >> I would I would definitely love that. I brought my, uh, one of my big sisters. Yes, she's my older sister. >> She lies every It's the truth. Don't ask us for a driver's license because mine might have said Lucia at one >> before I was 21, but we won't talk

018about that. Um, so thank you. Uh, Don reached out via email and I'm like, "Oh my gosh." And like I was like I ran to Alex. I said I immediately >> teared up teared up. Um, I have had the best job. I was told by the library Dr. McCoy who preceded Alex. Alex and I have been together pretty much um a couple months after me is when Alex started and the library hired me as the school lays on and they said get in and uh start a partnership with the school and I got to spoil the teachers whenever I could. I got a love on a 100red million trillion kids that just keep coming and growing and coming back. I did have a teacher stand beside me. So, so Alice when did you start? And

019I says well 1999. She goes oh I was one. >> Yeah. I was like, "Oh, okay." Um, I do have six grandchildren in the draw. They live uh two of my children are in Indiana and I have a daughter in Ohio with three and my son in in Indiana with three, less than 20 minutes away from me when I move. And the grandkids are so much better than kids >> always. >> So, that's what I'm going for. But I have been honored to to work with school district 23 for these past 20, you know, 27 years because, you know, every time someone new was hired or whatever, like Don, I remember the first time you came, I'm sorry, I go, "Oh my gosh, I love him. He's like a big teddy bear." >> Yeah, that's

020true. >> And then, you know, Craig, I've known forever, the little candy thief. But it's like one after another, everybody I worked with, whatever school district 23 is doing, keep doing um because it's working. It's a wonderful community. It's a wonderful group. Yes, I raised my children here and they have, you know, they love the the everything about it, the school district and the community, but dang it, that co they moved to Indiana. >> Yeah. So, it did hurt me a little bit, but thank you. I mean, you know, Michelle Uh, Craig, Amy, Don, thank you. And somebody who looks beautiful today. Uh, she explained that she'll be a little Rebecca explained how she'll look a little bit different tonight. >> I was in jeans and a dirty pony. >> She's a mom. She's a

021mom of a second. I was a mom. >> Really quickly, my um new head of the youth department, Katie, not new because has been here for two years. Two years now. So, Katie is the head of the youth head of our youth department. And Alex chose to hire Katie. I was like yes. So it keeps happening. Katie's hiring new people and they're good people. She's she's just let us know today she's got a new school laid on and I know Katie will do wonderful. So my job was to spoil every teacher in the school district and all the kids and I'm sure that'll keep happening. >> Yeah. And then Alex, I know >> Alex is the executive director at the library and we thank you for your support of this partnership and liaison >> and

022the board. So they let let us keep having I spoiled the kids today with a magic show and I'm like Alex. I want to give them a little something to go home with and Katie agreed to it and Alex always agrees to it which is wonderful. He always has my back and then it's just a little something but the kids are wonderful and very they say thank you. So, it's like good kids. Yeah. And I don't want to discount like Alice did such a I mean not just today but you know my kids that have grown up with you as well like engaging like the excitement of these second graders to only get two books today from the library and watching them walk around and talk to you know the whole team there about like

023what they're going to read and coming up with ideas and and seeking each other out and just like pairing it down to only two books. And you know they had the every kid's library card in case the kid didn't have it with them, they could still check out their book. And it's just such a great partnership and like and I think Alice did a really nice job of explaining to the kids about how great Illinois is with this reciprocal. you can drop your book back off anywhere and just explaining to them that the libraries are open to you and just continuing >> and that's again like you mentioned it is great the library doesn't say you know I have to segregate between Indian trails or mouth prospects you know it's it's wonderful because everybody just

024believes in whatever we can do to push kids forward >> so it's all good >> it's all great thank you >> WELL CONGRATULATIONS SO WE BOTH TOOK A SHOWER. >> YEAH. >> You didn't want me from earlier. >> So you guys can >> And then we'll look this way. She does. >> Thank you. Oh yeah, >> I have nine brothers and sisters and we have a what's have a what's up. So my sister I'm sure is gonna >> is going to post out >> and I just appreciate the cornerstone. >> Whoa, >> that was Thank you, Don. >> Set the bar high. Hard for us to find another recipient, but >> I had a great job. >> Yours was Thank you again. >> Congratulations. All right, we're going to sneak away. >> I mean, we

025have really fun business if you want to stay. >> All right. >> Uh, the next um group we'd like to to recognize and thank is our fantastic District 23 PTO. uh volunteer falls short of what it is that they really do. They they do volunteer their time, but really they are a driving force behind support for our programs, their fundraising, their event planning, the partnership in facilitating events like family fest and the movie night and uh most recently our coffee cart uh for for teachers. And then at the end of the year, Social. So, uh, we thank you all for being here tonight and, uh, you're give us a brief update as to the success of DTO this year. We hit your, you hit your milestone. >> Um, for those that don't know me, my

026name is Ela Wong. Um, I am co-president with Kelly Corey this year. Um, and last year we decided um as we were moving forward for this fundraising year to create an initiative called Let's Play where we focused on play equipment for the students. Um, we set a goal which we thought was pretty lofty of $5,000 and we exceeded that by raising $5,900 which we were so excited about. Um, so we did that through corporate sponsorships. We did that through our stress-free fundraiser which was just like, "Hey, if you don't want to volunteer, send some money and it it worked." So, we were really happy about that. Um, and next year we're looking forward to doing more partnerships with the district. Um, we loved being a part of the drive-in. That was a lot of fun.

027Um, and family fun. I always get the names mixed up, but fall fest and family fun night, you know, lots of Fs. Um, so we're looking forward to that as well. Um, Not only are we raising money to help our students, um one of um the parts of our um kids night out, which is the movie night for um K through five, um Amanda Lipa plans that and the last couple plus two years, three years, >> I don't remember, two years, um she included um donations for the Wheeling Food Pantry, >> Wheeling Township Food Pantry. And this year there was so much that was dropped off and they were so grateful. So even just that little part of giving back to our community that we work so hard for is fantastic. >> Yeah. Um who's

028here with me today? We have Kelly Corey, Amanda Lipa, Amy Thompson, Jackie, and Lisa Moore. >> Just a small portion. >> Yes. Okay. And you are always open for other volunteers to join and partner with you as well. I know that's >> if you all have some free time. >> Fantastic. >> Becky, you can bring your gavvel. >> You would always want me and my gavl. Totally. >> But I do think what's what's impressive about the group is that it's not only volunteering of resource. you know, there's money that's raised and there's that kind of giving that happens, but there's giving of time and energy and presents and um the coordination of events. The event itself is like Christmas morning. You know, it comes, you celebrate it, and it's over, but it had taken months

029to prepare for. And so, that kind of ongoing commitment is really remarkable. Thank you for your generosity in terms of the donations toward field trips, the donations toward the building uh requests, your very generous support of uh parent teacher meals and teacher appreciation week and all of those gifts. Um and then the the let's play initiative are um going to go to fund some specific projects for recess and playgrounds. That's awesome. Anything else from the board? >> Thank you for everything you guys do. I know, right? It's similar to this of that volunteer piece of the time and the people don't know how much work it is until they jump in to feed. So, thank you for that and thank you for all your support. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. THANK YOU. YOU

030GUYS DON'T WANT TO hang out with us more time from one sport to the next. >> We are a rip roaring good time. >> There's plenty of small >> doesn't >> uh next just uh the community connections newsletter was mailed out. So that um successfully reached our community. uh we continue to approach I think we're at about uh 80% um of our registration enrollment and registration is complete uh following the typical pattern um kinder first second and third are almost at 96% and then fourth and fifth grade is in the high 80s and for whatever reason MacArthur always lags in be uh registering for next year. >> Tired by then. >> The parents are all just exhausted like I can't even press that button. >> So, >> we do encourage folks to complete that registration.

031It does help us to have schedules uh built and bus routes routed accurately over the summer. Um but we are on track. Um nothing really uh shocking or surprising in the current data uh from enrollment right now. >> Uh this Friday we are hosting uh our school improvement day is a day of non-attendance for our students. >> Next Friday. >> I'm sorry. Next Friday. Yes. Thank you. >> I was like that's not tomorrow, right? >> No. No. >> My kids are coming to school tomorrow. >> Yeah. Your kids are coming to school tomorrow. But a week from tomorrow, um, and we're hosting our retirement, >> retirement and recognition, uh, lunch as part of our end of year celebrations from 11 until 12:30 or 11:15ish. Uh, we are preparing a barbecue lunch >> for folks. And

032listed in the agenda tonight are our retirees who will be recognizing at that event and again next month here as well as the years of service recognition folks. A week from next Monday, that's not too confusing. Memorial Day, uh Monday, May 25th, we will be participating in the Arlington Heights Memorial Day parade. It kicks off at 9:30. were supposed to be in place by 9:00. We've invited representatives from our student leadership groups, the ambassadors, the student senate, the unified programs. Um, but uh other uh folks are certainly welcome to join us and and march in that parade if you're interested. um board can sign up via the the email um in the Monday memo and the community uh has had access to a QR code to uh to join as well. We will be hosting

033our annual schools out celebration again in partnership with our PTO on the 27th. That'll take place on the Sullivan playground area from 3:30 to 5:30. We have eighth grade promotion on May 29th. anniversary this year starting promptly at 7 p.m. Um Michelle will be sending out a Google form for registration for triple I. Triple I is the professional development collaborative event between the schoolboard association, the school business official organization and the school administrator organization in downtown Chicago. So um be watching for that. We ask you to sign up for that so that we can be first in line to put our requests in for our preferred hotels. And uh in advance of our next board meeting uh which is June the 11th, we would like to invite uh of course our board as well as

034a number of community guests and the public at large to join us at 6 pm prior to the board meeting for a groundbreaking ceremony that will also include an opportunity for um an updated look at some of the renderings and for the community to kind of get a closeup look at the work to be done over the next year at Eisenhower so that if there are questions they'll we'll be able to be there to answer some of those. We're doing that in partnership again with Nicholas and Aron. And then rounding out this school year is our every other year D23 day at the Dogs which will be June the 12th. that is the uh Chicago Dogs baseball team out of Rosemont. And tickets uh are purchased directly through the Chicago Dogs organization. It's not a

035fundraiser. It's just purely an opportunity. Tickets are face value tickets and we just invite the community to come together and enjoy uh what hopefully will be a nice night at the ball game. Our choir, our chorus groups will be uh singing the national anthem and welcoming folks as they enter the baseball stadium. And those are the communications updates. >> Yes, we met on May 5th. Um talked about several things. The transformer about completed in April. Um that transformers pop out. Um Nicholas and Associates are going to be doing some asbestos testing sampling for testing. Um it's going to come to about $6,000. Um that'll be happening early June. MacArthur is pushing late time on their windows due maybe about initial week or so. Hopefully we'll be able to fold that in with the rest of

036the project and adhere some other time frames. Um worst case scenario they're going to board up the windows not our cost but I don't think that we're going to be on on that plan. I think should be okay. >> Um can it be at Mac? when we did that. Oh, there was some falling off some issues with it, but passion is going to be treating that also at their cost. Um, waiting to get some different adhesive. I think it's the adhesive which was causing issue >> and those are for the >> and they want to make sure they adhere the same way for um >> the systems are the same at Mac and height. >> Yes, thank you. So everything was the same. Um we had some pricing holdover for the drapery and blind and

037sell about mid August. That's about $33,000. They Allstar Drapery was gracious enough to hold the 23. So that'll be a good savings there. Appreciative of their partnership. Um there'll be an approval of the power supply at this meeting to modernize the network cost. M is done. Rosson Sullivan we're working on next. Um but Chris's budget already includes this $4,000. Um, we should be finishing up the Patriot Park agreement coming soon. Um, looking to add another mural to the library over at Mac. >> Just took a while. >> Took a while. Took a while. >> The Patriots, not you. Thanks. Um, and the Crosby Broads base. There was a little bit of leakage. Pipes and lines were clogged. Everything's in really good shape though. Had a camera down there so we could see things. It's all

038fine. >> It's all fine. >> Just a lot of rain. >> A lot of rain. >> Any questions? >> All right. Finance. Um, it was so enjoyable to join the finance committee for the first time and be the only one there. >> I'm so sorry. Sorry. Where were you? >> Not there with me. >> I I gave a advanced notice. >> Hold on. Let me tell you where. >> He was probably some place better than Springfield. >> Oh, it's in Las Vegas. >> Oh, well definitely better than Springfield. >> Well, >> I had a ripporn good time with you. I know it was a great story that time. I learned about finance because as as the new representative to the finance committee, I was there. Um we talked about the um June audit um that

039we were going to start um in the uh in August like June 10th. >> June 10th. >> Oh, that says prelim. That's what it says. >> Prelim, aren't they? Um, at one point Amy asked me if I needed a bigger piece of paper. I was like, "Nope, I'm good. Thank you." Um, uh, we talked about the food service contract that we were going to continue to, um, a year year 205 is what we're on. We talked about um beginning in um info and discussions with the Prospect Heights Park District about kinder stop and what that will look like with full day kindergarten and the um revenue piece and what what will that look like when we house kindergarten full day opposed to needing to go to the half day. Um no changes for the budget.

040Um PTAB we're getting a $29,000 refund. um what we talked about with Patriot Park, we're going to talk about later this evening, finally coming to an end. Um there's been some movement on fee collections. So, we did send out letters to 317 families or individual students of overdue fees um that we are trying to we gave them 30-day notice. Um we will send them to collections if they don't create a payment plan or some kind of showing that they're trying. Um myself included called panic attack. I was LIKE, "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" CUZ just how like Right. So, >> you're on the list. >> I was I was I was I paid it immediately. Um but we did talk through that. >> Sweet. >> No, because I only found out about it

041that day. I got the letter because lack of eighth grade communication from my daughter. So, >> I don't care. mayor. >> I just I paid it immediately as soon as I knew. >> Um, no, but we did talk about how >> we did talk about that, but we did talk about like plans going forward of like some of those spring sports, right? Like they start track and then we're immediately looking for fee collection. So, how do we do a better job with these middle schoolers that are doing this, especially ones that are graduating, right? Like that that piece of that. So, Amy and I had some really good conversations around especially the eighth graders um and some of that stuff. Uh residency with our system. We have we have 11 students that we are doing

042some followup on that um that pinged on the residency radar thing that we need to make sure that they're actually residents. >> Is it 11 differenties? It was 11 students. >> 11 students. So is that >> it's probably about eight or nine families. Wow. >> And that's down. That's that's 11 students currently that are on registration hold for >> that will be following up. That's down. The original um list I think was closer to 30 or 40 this time. >> Oh wow. >> And for those of you it's a really cool system. So like they run all all of us through and we get like a rating. So like I would get a rating of 85 because maybe co-signed for Madison's apartment in St. Louis. So then my address pings as potentially St. Louis and

043Chicago. So I get a lower rating than say you that doesn't have any right you have a lakehouse in you know Lake Geneva that would ping your rating. Um so you get this rating from this company and then based on your rating if you're above 85 then no followup needed but if you're a lower number then we follow up because you've got some So it's it's fairly recent. We've run we run all our parents every year and then we've really been trying to be more diligent about >> any wrestlers. >> So anyway, moving on then. Um >> I'm gonna keep going. Memphis has >> Yes. So EP has some new racks that we're getting. So another shout out to Mr. Alms um with the work that he's doing with Evest. So in all like it

044there's just a lot of good stuff going on in the district and making sure that we are >> doing what we're supposed to be doing. And I'm going to keep going and keep this meeting moving. >> Um NSSO me. >> That's you. We had fun too, but I'm not talking. So, the NSSO meeting was last week. It was preceded by a little reception for all the retirees. There are nine retirees uh representing 185 years of experience. >> Wow. Then the board meeting was after that the shining stars were the retirees. Um Brad did a presentation on that uh during public comment. Uh Gina Lozano who is an ESP at Timber Ridge. Uh she spoke and periodically she she does speak, you know. board about something or whatever. Uh and last week it was she came

045to acknowledge the ancesio foundation uh which supported a mini grant that she had applied for for a cooking club at Timber Ridge. So she was describing that and amazing thing that takes place there. Uh the superintendent report me did a recap of uh an event called Miracle on Minor which was kind of a family community event at >> like a block party. >> Yeah. At minor. Uh a couple weeks ago they had um games, face painting, open gym, uh fire department, police department, bookmobile. Uh there were food trucks. Um and they raised $13,000 in in the afternoon. >> Uh it was a lot of fun. And the raffle, they had a raffle. The raffle was music. They had, you know, like sometimes raffles they'll have like tickets to sporting events. You're like, you like sports,

046that's good. >> Um, they had an amazing variety of things. So, probably why um then uh there the board voted. You may remember last month I came and spoke about um in my report I was talking about potential resolution uh or signage regarding ICE that some of the neighboring districts have implemented and there was discussion in the past about NSSO doing the same. So, uh, the board voted to direct the administration to, uh, draft resolution and to draft potential signage, uh, regarding activity on their premises. Um, >> pardon, >> they voted for both of them. >> They voted to have them >> explore, >> be developed, >> right? Developed. And then The board will be the admin will present to the board at our next meeting what they came up with and the board will

047vote on it and depending on the vote uh they they bring it back to member districts and then we will vote on whether we want to have installed. Um that was that. Um there were uh then human resources. Um Brad gave a presentation or there was first reading of a number of policies like a dozen policies like we have this evening. He gave an update on negotiations. >> We got it. >> Allergies. >> Yes. >> Um, NSO has been negotiating with their the association for a couple months now. uh they did eventually come to an agreement at the end of April. Uh it was presented to the membership who did not accept it. Um so the leadership did a survey with the membership to kind of determine what the issues were. They've identified them and

048now the ball is kind of in their court to come back to uh the negotiating team with another option. So things are kind of in one until that happens. Uh the board approved a change for the assistant principal position at NSSO. Uh each of the schools has an assistant principal. Kirk has two. Uh and that position has usually been 11 months. And there's been issues with to have them come in and um you know scheduling and stuff. So they the recommendation was to make it a 12 month position and the board proved that. So the the 12 months will be phased in over three years. The first year one of the Kirk assistant principles will become uh you know, the 12 months and then uh then the one at Minor and then the other one

049at Kirk and Timber Ridge in the third year cost >> well the cost because they're paying them to come in extra so it's kind of >> a salary adjustment and then >> but the cost is >> um let's see and then um the business report Um Gavin gave an update on facilities uh the current phase two work. Um you might remember that there were issues with HVAC and the boilers and everything. Um most of phase two is in the works. Um the HVAC units that are to be installed in classrooms are most of that is complete. Um and also they are looking to address issues in their 10year life safety u report and that was um specifically about the stairwell at Timber Ridge not not in the new section but in the old section the

050stairwell is not fire rated and so that will have to be updated to be fire rated. Um, and that was it for the governing board. You guys, the operational board did it was pretty much the same agenda. >> Yep. We preview it before and give our input and then it goes to the governing board. >> Yeah, I think I think there was more of a report about the um task force. >> I think our report will be next month. on these signs. This is the one meeting I went to. Is there ever any resolution >> district 25? >> Well, that's that's to be >> we haven't voted on it yet >> and they remember they have When I was there, they had something that brought up in that initial discussion like doesn't own this building.

051>> Oh, I see what you're saying. >> Minor is owned by >> so whisper to whoever has to be whispered to >> Yeah, I would imagine. >> Thanks. Yeah. >> They were just talking about uh that one issue. >> And it I don't remember what the dollar amount was. I mean, it wasn't it was significant, not outrageous. >> Is that what they had in their longterm budget? >> Their 10 year life safety. I think they're in their third or fourth year of the 10 year life safety. So that was one of the things that was, you know, like a >> do they color code? I don't remember. Right. >> Yeah. Yeah. So it it was, you know, the must do list. >> It's being addressed through the there's a building fund that is assessed to

052all member districts annually. That's a proration of our participation. So that >> no that generates that generates the pool of funds for them to do these kinds of projects. >> It won't be like that giant project. Okay. >> Any other questions? >> All right. Policy up for your first report. Thank you. Thank you everyone for the opportunity to report to you on policy. >> She, you know, I fought her for it. I won. Um, so policy riveting 74 pages of policy updates that we went through. >> Um, 25 individual uh policies that were updated, the majority of which I am happy to report that were updates that just included a new legal reference. So some policies of interest that I will flag because I know you all want something to take away. Um is were

053around um a few things around posting uh posting about board meetings when and where uh it turns out we're already doing and in compliance with all of the policy changes. So things like posting 48 hours in within the district. I think you do that here and prior to meeting on location is appropriate. And so those two places were already posting. Um there were when community members can add things to agenda. We already kind of have that uh covered and what how we allow people to come in and use these forms. Um and they added active military service as an excuse to be remote to a board meeting. So seems like a legitimate reason. Uh they said it's up to us to to decide if we want to do roll call for every single matter. So

054I think we'll keep it a little more reasonable. >> Um one of the things that I thought would be nice for some of our admin friends is um access to school records and foyer requests. They do not have to include junk mail. Um so you don't have to keep that in perpetuity. uh and requests that are made that could be maybe sent out as spam must be in the body of an email. You can't just forward attachments places and they we have the right or the school has the right to verify that the request is real. So they sent send an email back saying is this a real request for this information and nobody responds or you say you must call us and nobody calls you can ignore it which is great. So you're not

055doing a bunch of work that No one's trying to tie it. >> That was the foy new legislation around that that went through and is now making policy. >> Yeah. So that I I felt was that's a great a great gift. >> Um there were a few different policies that said not only can you say we have a list of I think Craig you're most of this list. >> Uh let me pull up the library. >> So thanks to Craig. So there's a the non-discrimination coordinator and complaint managers. So that is non-discrimination title nine complaint manager for both of those. Um so it's Craig, Craig, Craig, and Amy. They want those the contact for those folks to be listed in each area where they reference it rather than say find this somewhere. So, but that

056is something that is already standard practice here. So, we're already in compliance. Um, so great job on that. Um, and I mean the less the less fun there was like a a policy on animals in the classroom, which was nice, but the policy on um inappropriate kind of acts with minors. They they changed some wording around to clarify grooming and behaviors. And we're no longer required to provide in writing if we're going to discuss eron law presentations, which allows if it comes up in casual conversation because of you're discussing something that's happening in a in a book that is related, uh the teacher's not going to get that. They're not out of compliance. Um, if we were targeting a discussions on that, of course, we would let the parents know in advance anyway, but it's

057it's just uh giving the teachers a little bit of freedom there. And then again, general election, if there's a general election um and it's required by law for the school to not be in session, we won't be in session. And um a lot of the other things I think really were not as notable. Um, I'm can report on all 74 if you want because I have moment 74 pages, but I think that will do it. >> I'm open to feedback for my debrief. >> You did a great job. >> I have a question though. >> Yes. >> Um, when I was reading through under um 220 >> on what page? >> The page now. Yeah. 2220 under voting. >> Yes. >> Oh, yeah. >> It says roll call votes are rotated and I noticed in

058other districts they rotate, you know, when the roll callers and why do >> we used to? >> Yeah, >> I'm certainly can. >> I don't like >> I don't >> Well, I last now. >> Are you? >> I'm noticing. See, sometimes I'll get because when I first came out, >> they would call me first. I'm like, "Oh, why are they first?" >> We certainly can. >> We can certainly start. >> So, every vote it starts with a different person. >> But I always know that when >> I'm still new, so I like that it's >> like wait for me. >> I like random. It's like you >> keeps everyone on their >> Yeah. Just random. Just random. We want to liven things up tonight. >> We want this to be fun for you, too. >>

059We don't want you to be bored down there. >> We don't want you to be bored down there. >> Thank you for reading the policy. >> Any more questions? >> I do not. >> So, those are presented. >> You did you did fine. presented for first read tonight and then will be part of the consent agenda next month unless there are >> call unless there are questions. >> Sorry, I just had to. >> All right, next up is community relations. Tracy, >> well Dr. A did a great job reporting a lot of those community things in there and I think the only thing that was maybe not mentioned um because it wasn't in the that job. Great job. Was the next um ice cream social at CAPS May 26th to benefit our loss and schools.

060When I think of the one to know about that is you can buy quarts of ice cream and take it home and that counts towards the money toward. So if you're not in the mood for ice cream on that night, you can still buy ice cream to benefit the fundraiser. >> Can we do both? >> You can do both. >> We can all go get ice cream together. >> You can either buy it and donate it to me >> as a gift. I'm happy to oblige. >> Okay. Only two people can go together at a time. >> Two at a time. >> That's right. >> Because you can't create a quorum at caps. So, please make sure you don't all seven show up at the exact same time. >> If I if I may, I

061just want to give one additional shout out to Chris Sroa, Dominique, Kelly Krauss, >> Abby Cisneros, and everybody who participated in the young athletes event. It is uh always in partnership with Illinois Special Olympics. We bring our MacArthur students come over and they support. We had a ton of parent volunteers who were out supporting. It is again one of those events that takes lots and lots of planning and prep to be able to go off like it did today without a hitch and seem like, oh, this was really easy. >> The weather was beautiful. kids. The kids did great. It was It was a great event. So, thank you to Chris and team >> for that. >> From this morning, >> they're already on the websites. >> Yeah. >> Thanks, Mr. >> So many fun

062yellow and blue shirts. >> Driving by this morning, I was a little jealous I was there. I was on a call with one of my staff members and I'm like, "Oh man, that looks so nice." >> I mean, and truly, like it was such a great event. The weather was perfect. The kids were Every group I stopped by was having a great time. >> The teenagers were even remotely helpful with their Starbucks. >> They were very helpful. >> Did you get Starbucks? >> I did not get Starbucks, but I believe almost every teenager in the morning. >> They all had their Starbucks or Duncan and ready to go. And no, but it's great to see the middle school kids like interacting with the little kids. >> Oh, they did a great job. They did a

063really good job and the games were fun. And >> as a reminder before I get my report, if anybody wants to support Special Olympics tomorrow, >> yes, on top on the top. So if you go and get some coffee in the morning, donate a certain amount, you get a t-shirt for Special Olympics. >> Yeah. Um, Prospect Heights will be at the I know it's not convenient, but at the Prospect Heights Duncan, which is on Paline Road in Milwaukee, so it's not super convenient for us, but that is their Duncan that they do. So, we'll be there tomorrow. >> Arlington is at >> Yep. The one right here on >> And one other since there are probably hundreds of people watching at this very moment. just to take something that I want to give a shout

064out for. >> Uh sometimes it >> happens just kind of halfhazardly and sometimes it doesn't happen at all. But we have a really organized group of high school seniors this year and they have coordinated on May the 27th at 100 p.m. a high school uh seniors will walk the halls. So they'll start at Mac, >> uh Hershey and Wheeling, uh come back through Mac, then they'll walk through Sullivan and Ross as well, uh part of their a new tradition for them. So that was glad to see that come together and appreciative for the kids kids, the young men and women who organized that on behalf of their friends. >> That's awesome. >> All right. Um succession plan. >> I've had great privilege spending a great deal of time uh with a lot of people in

065the last month. We did four but really three listening sessions to date. Um I had opportunity to meet with all the building administrators for a listening session. I've met with the leadership team for uh about 30 minutes to hear their input. We tried to do something with the superintendent advisory group but unfortunately no one showed up. So we Spencer, >> not you were there. We're working on something with the PTO currently to try to get something with some parents >> and uh I did a session with >> improvement >> district improvement team uh which was helpful and uh we'll have one tonight an executive session for all of you to kind of piece together and share insight into what we ultimately put in our search information for the superintendent. All in all, I think helpful.

066Oh, and we've done the survey. Yeah. How many to date? 60 or 70. >> Yeah, it's a little over the late high >> 60s. All right. Any more questions? Right. Uh, tonight's consent agenda is um has the regular meeting minutes from April 9th. special meeting on April 11th and report. Does anybody need to pull anything out? Great. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> To approve the consent agenda. >> Motion by Marilyn, second by Tracy. Can I get a random roll call, please? >> Yes. It's really fell off. >> Wait, I have to do this part. Okay. >> Okay. >> Dr. Summers. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mlan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Peters. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Bowwinsky. Yes, >> Mr. Nord. >> Yes. Again, >> Dr. You got one more. >>

067Yes. >> All right. Motion carries 70. >> Um, all right. The financial report. >> I had the financial report this month. Uh, I had a handful of minor questions. a handful of direct comments and still amazed at the cost of busing. I haven't found an angle in on where I'd want to invest in but I'm thinking gas futures is the next thing to explore except for the prior quarter >> and the future. So still exploring but uh motion to approve financial report as presented in May second by Mary Lyn. Can I Roll call, please. >> Dr. Long, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mlan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Peters, >> yes. >> Dr. Summers, >> yes. >> Mr. Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Great. >> Great job. Because the motion is not your vote. The motion is

068to open the thing for discussion. >> Yes. >> All right. Anyway, superintendent report sustainable financing. We have been waiting. >> Oh my goodness. >> And waiting for this. >> Yes. Uh >> I'm gonna go sit up there. >> Yes, please. To to recap, uh >> this is the third in three parts. We >> wanted to go in depth because of the important nature of the topic as well as uh the need for us to um sort of create what will be public facing or what are currently public facing uh graphics and data to help the community understand um the current and future needs of the district. So, if you go to the next slide, please. This has been part of our strategic plan goal to articulate this plan for sustainable financing. Uh, thanks to Amy

069uh for her time and partnership in developing this presentation. Next slide, please. We began with uh just some basics on finance. We reviewed expenditure and revenue sources. We talked about uh the history and influences on our fund balance to what brings us to our current position. In part two, we talked about the new budget assumptions after analyzing the recent um changes in uh actual amounts year-over-year. uh the previous assumptions that we had been using, we wanted to publicly discuss and uh modify those. Uh that also includes the impact of the full day kindergarten transition uh with reductions and needs there to sort of create that new baseline. So tonight, taking that new baseline and looking at what that does to our uh revenue and expenditures as we move forward. uh in a in a not

070shocking or surprising uh spoiler alert, um you know, as costs continue to outpace our revenue. um what we want our services and programming to look like um at different levels, costs different levels and the need for us to identify reductions, changes in assumptions or uh increased revenues are presented in both the budget scenarios and the funding strategies. Go ahead. No, go ahead. Perfect. Um, so, uh, Don and I spent a lot of time trying to come up with a way to clearly, um, communicate some of both the challenges and then our our, um, strategies moving forward. So the purpose of the presentation is just to kind of clarify the financial position, communicate what that shared understanding of sustainability looks like, and then articulate the ongoing gap that we're seeing year-over-year between revenues uh and expenditures

071as we look at future projections utilizing the new baseline model. Um moving forward, we've taken a look at a couple of different um potential action steps um for the board's discussion. Um but really most importantly to kind of articulate that roadmap um to kind of get us where we need to be um with regard to sustainable financing models for the next five plus years. For us we really um kind of focus on this definition of sustainability. Um, and for us it really is making those datainformed decisions that give us the ability to protect our student experience and plan for future um whether that's kids coming into the full day kindergarten program, making sure that they have adequate resources all the way through their district um experience. Three different levels of sustainability that we look at.

072Financial sustainability, obviously, making that the dollars uh revenues and expenditures continue to stay in alignment. Um operational sustainability, meaning making sure that we're able to um keep up with our facilities and our learning environments to provide those experiences. And then educational sustainability, making sure that we're continuing to stay on top of um curricular goals um and meet those community expectations for our students and uh and their programming. So, as we take a look forward, we're going to just briefly talk about the difference between our projections and the budget, please keep in mind, you'll hear me say this multiple multiple times. This is a theoretical exercise. This is not the budget. This is not what we're planning on doing as Amy is preparing for this next budget cycle. that budget cycle will live within the realities

073and the confines of what we have to decide in the here and now. What we're looking to do here is to share what potential for uh position we would be in without corrective action or with additional different decisions that we may make. And so the gaps between what we're showing in terms of projections and what will actually happen in the budget development should not be um misconceived as you know one is predictive of the other. We're going through this exercise so that we build an understanding of what the variables are that are at play for us to take preventive action from going into deficit spending. um and gives us that time to plan, communicate and and take any other actions. >> So for us, when we look at what that budget process looks like, it's

074really important that we match our expenditures to anticipated revenues coming in the fiscal year. That's what we do every year, what we're required to do by when we pass a balance budget. Um those projection models take a specific number of assumptions and it's really everything from staffing count to um property tax revenues to all of those different revenues and expenditure um um again assumptions that we make to kick out um what we anticipate our future um funding models and expenditures could look like over the next several years. And it gives us an opportunity to identify potential gaps and then make corrective action as as required. A number of reasons why we see gaps. Obviously, we see them um in in the different assumptions, but on an ongoing basis, we um kind of prioritize as we

075did uh at our meeting at Sunrise late. We establish what those priorities are and then we um obviously have to put the funds where the priorities dictate. So we work to do that. Obviously we want to make sure that we maintain our program and staffing choices. That's an ongoing decision that we've had with the board. Adequacy projections are determined by Isby and so we've taken those into account here too. Budgeting strategies and philosophy. That's something that is for me really an ongoing year-long process. we um there are several touch points that we have with the board to make sure that we're on the same page and that I'm clearly understanding um what those guidelines are as we go into kind of budgeting season. And the one thing that um kind of continues to be a

076little bit of a um an an unknown for us on an annual basis. We we never know students and the needs that they're going to bring um to to our doors. And so sometimes we do have to shift um should we get an unanticipated placement or transportation um need. So just those are some of the things that we need to stay on top of. This um was something that um we shared with you in our uh second um episode of sustainable financing and it really just articulated exactly what those baseline assumptions were. So for us um we plan on uh we had previously planned on 98 to 99% for local tax collections. For our purposes we now plan on 96% um with a target of those um additional collections going into the fund balance rebuild.

077That's something that we um have kind of talked through a little bit. We assumed flat um revenue when it comes to our state EBF uh our MCATs. We shared that in um the prior uh I believe that was the second episode as well um where we're kind of seeing that gap um between state MCAT funding the mandated categoricals and what the district is required to provide. So we've seen year-over-year that the district's costs continue to go up um and MCATs were projecting it flat for the next several years. Again, federal grants projecting out at flat. We are fairly certain that our um budget numbers for f 27 will be kind of an alignment although really not anticipating any additional revenue. When we look at our expenditures we had um prior uh assumptions we were on

078target with our negotiated agreements and then a 3% we're continuing to kick those out at a 3%. We are um uh reflecting a flat staffing plan. No anticipated increases there. As we talked about at our last meeting, we are really seeing a pretty significant swing in benefits. Medical insurance, we are projecting for the current year a 15% increase and then kicking that out at 10%. 10% is in kind of working with forecast 5. They felt like that was pretty fair. Um hoping to see those kind of reorm a little bit. Um dental insurance for us, we're kicking it out at 1%. Purchase services um in ED and M are really kind of ignment with what we've seen. Um, as Don said, um, taking a look at what our historicals have been and knowing that moving

079forward, we need to keep those as flat as possible, but we are seeing slight inflationary increases. So, we've projected that here, our purchase services, transportation is actually up for bid next year. So, while we have seen four and a quarter increases for the past two years, we'll see that next year, but not really knowing what we're going to see um as we get into that bid process in the fall. We're projecting that out as a 7% annual increase. Supplies and materials, again, we're holding it as flat as possible, but acknowledging that there have been some inflationary um increases, we want to we want to respect that here in the new baseline. some other baseline assumptions that we wanted to make sure we um included here. We were, as previously articulated, implementing some of those um

080reductions as we can to offset costs anticipated for full day kindergarten. Um obviously the flat staffing plan. We're continuing to um take advantage of a zerobased budgeting strategy which for us the past two years has been really very helpful. And I'm um especially appreciative to the budget administrators, that's the building administrators and then our directors as well. Um that is it's an ongoing process for them with a goal of um continued refinements and efficiencies. So that is certainly not an easy uh exercise that they do year-over-year, but um it has reaped some benefits and um some savings and again continued cost efficiencies for the district. Chris has done a great job and we'll talk a little bit about the um benefits that we've seen by bringing some of those services inhouse. We've seen um and

081we'll see this year a a net a net reduction in our costs to um NSSO. So props to um to Chris and her team for to continue to anticipating some of those needs and then making sure that we have the services that we need in house. um some of the projects that we have coming up. We've continued to defer what we can defer, but as you know, phase purchasing is kind of the way we do things here. We continue to um eyeball projects and then pace them out over several years to make sure we can still grow where we need to grow and and accomplish those projects. But for us, that's our reality. We typically have to do them over several years. and then our ongoing commitment um to working towards rebuilding that fund balance

082getting it to three 33% in alignment with um board policy. So the base model that's projected here uh first looking at the green and blue columns uh model out the revenue and expenditures over time. And what is represented just based again in this base model is uh what would be considered a structural deficit where our uh expenses grow at a rate faster than our revenues. In this model again the fund balance amount you see begins to level and then taper downward. um that is not implementing a purposeful set aside that uh for the fund balance rebuild. That's just saying if we were going to um balance out our our revenues and expenditures as close as possible without dipping in or without setting that money aside, it would obviously negatively impact fund balances over time. >>

083Yeah. And as it is now, reflects a fund balance in 2026 and 27 right around 26 27%. >> So in 2026 it shows our fund balance back up to 26%. >> Should be 25 to 26. Yeah. >> We're anticipating surpluses >> and our goal is to be at 30 >> 33 is what our board policy is. So then it looks like in sorry >> trying to understand in 2028 if we don't do anything we then start to back down. >> Yep. As as we see our expenditures continue to go up with no additional significant revenue coming in then yeah we do continue. >> So we never get to our 33%. >> In this model we don't. >> Okay. Right. >> When was the last time we were at 33? >> 2020. 2020. Yeah, >> it

084could have been 1920. >> I just want to make sure I'm understand where we are because I know that's been a big >> conversation. >> Yeah, you'll see it in the next um slide where we sort of uh force the model to save the dollar. >> Yeah. Just Zara, since you're new here, this will be important to know is this balance number is a moving target based on when we get tax money in and stuff. So, I think like at some points in the year it looks really good but then like we only get income a couple times a year. So you'll see at points this is something that I when I first joined the board like well how does this slip to last year? We weren't tracking that really well. That's something that and

085I have started to do. It's like we >> we didn't have an idea of where we like, okay, is this normal for this time of year based on whatever >> because like it may be okay to be at whatever percent >> because we know we've been here before and we're anticipating a payment coming up or something like that. >> Yeah. Our typical we in Cook County we receive property taxes typically typically twice a year. um we receive them in the August, September time frame and then March and April is typically when we receive them. However, through the past several years, we've seen delays in Cook County actually getting the dollars to us. So, that's been a little bit more fluid. >> So, for us, it's a challenge to navigate that. I think it's important to

086preserve. This past year, we didn't have to, but there are other districts because of this delay, they had to take out tax anticipation warrants >> to pay their staff. So, they're incurring expense >> through no fault of their >> own and losing all the interesting >> one other detail not to correct you but saying that we district wasn't tracking it that wasn't the case we moved to a cruel accounting for year one so we didn't have a baseline year so we're establishing a baseline year to be able to compare it year over year >> like that because that that's really what was I think eye opening for the boarding acruel >> acrruel that that's what >> in 2022 23 >> so here's the vote >> here's the vote >> we're back >> so the goal

087being that the funding gap is zero meaning that our revenues and expenditures are in alignment with one another building a surplus that isn't put toward kids and we're also not overspending so the goal of the water line being in this case being zero Running that base model that we talked about just to maintain what we're currently doing, we see leads us into a gap of quarter of a million dollars, then threequarters of a million dollars, then 1.3 um in years 29, 30, and 31. The specific dollars throughout the presentation obviously matter, but the bigger takeaway is the the trend and and uh knowing that as we make decisions or changes or as life happens, uh we may see, you know, different specific dollars. Uh, for example, next year if we were to receive another grant

088from >> a legislator >> legislator of 500,000 that was unanticipated, then you would see that balance obviously higher. But just based on our assumptions, uh, we see that that structural deficit hits us uh, in the 28 29 uh, 29 fiscal year if we don't do anything. So, what are the things that we can do? First, we're going to look at our variables. Again, we've shared what those assumptions are. Um, but these are all at play. And at any given time, as we make decisions or as life happens to us, the reality will will play itself out. For our theoretical purposes here, we're just assuming that those assumptions, those baseline assumptions are static. So, we developed five scenarios. The first one that we showed was maintaining a current programming and forcing the moneyvious into that fund

089balance to hit that 33%. That's obviously going to take more money out of revenue to go toward expenditures because we're just putting that into savings. So that's going to drive costs uh or it'll increase the gap more quickly. The second one even more quicker more quickly. Uh we have talked about a set aside for capital projects. So that's what the second model looks at. The third model will look at um an inflationary increase to support educational programs and services. Again, those budgets that we have developed, we did uh 5% at the building level and I'm sorry, what was the the reductions in our budget that we already did? >> Yeah, we said 8 to 10%. So maintaining that level over time means that we have less and less and less money to pay for subscriptions

090and curricular materials. And so we're talking about those education programs and services rising with inflation assuming a 2.5 CPI range. We haven't really talked much about the ISBY adequacy target. will briefly touch that on that. You're beginning to hear some of that in the news as structural deficits are becoming uh of concern to lots of folks. Most recently, just yesterday, the Chicago public schools uh talked about their gap to adequacy. So, um knowing that that is a state level target, uh we wanted to include that. And then the fifth scenario we presented um is you know what would it look like if we were able to do these things uh we put we hit our fund balance we set money aside for capital projects and we not only want to keep up with inflation and

091maintain but we want to implement we want to do some new programming we want to expand some services. Sorry, can I ask that question? For these scenarios, is it >> two is 1 + two, three is >> is it inclusive? Every line is inclusive of everything above it. Thank you. >> Right. So to do number five do one, two, three, and four. It's >> no to >> they're not exclusive. >> Four. Four stands alone. >> Okay. >> Four stands alone. It's saying just to get to adequacy target. What would that look like? >> But two includes one. >> Yes. includes one includes two and one. >> Correct. >> And five includes 321. >> Yes. So obviously it's just spending more and more and more money which is going to increase the gap. So again in

092this first scenario um all the current reductions are in place our programming we balance year-to-year um but we take that additional 4% from property tax revenues since we're budgeting our revenue at only 96% and we're forcing that into the fund balance rebuild. >> I want to make sure that that is clear for everybody and that makes sense. We started that this year. And what that looks like is when when I'm budgeting, the revenues and the expenditures need to equal out. This the goal this year was to budget our expenditures and tie it to 96% revenue. So we're budgeting anticipating 4% in uh 4% additional funding to go into fund balance this year. So because fund balance is a reflection of expenditures and expenditures continue to go up, so too does the 33% waterline. So the

093blue line is that 33% target. So, the good news is if we purposefully sock more money away toward fund balance, we'll be able to get back to that 33% target line in that green um projection by the fiscal 2030 as opposed to the red line which was the baseline that we shared um in the first slide. >> Do you think it's over aggressive to um that number at 4% and I I don't I haven't gotten an audit report in a few years, but when you look at the 10year tax collection data, you're really not 100% anymore, right? I mean, there's so many people contesting their taxes and I don't know what our collection rate is really I assume is 99. >> It's about 99. When I started it was we were budgeting at about 104%

094because we were getting prior year collections and we were getting more than that. Like last year we saw about $400,000 going out in refunds. So that and those were unanticipated. So that's a hit. We did budget more in that this year, but I think we feel pretty comfortable that we've seen the money come in this year. Um we have not yet seen significant refunds this year. So I I don't know if that's kind of a year-over-year type of thing or if we're seeing a significant swing in that. We haven't seen it yet this year. So >> it very well may be more aggressive and that's as an example that's one of the levers we could >> adjust. >> We could adjust. We could say >> show it at 98% collections and 2% or two keep

095it at 96 but put 2% instead of four. >> It does still catch up. It just pushes it further years down. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. So, but that's just our current assumption was 96% with four going to >> the fund balance. >> No, I love when we do it at the 96% 4% get to 100. >> Yeah, seems almost impossible. But >> okay, >> so that is the good news. However, obviously if we do that, the gap between providing the current services that we have grows more quickly because we're putting that money purposefully into savings and not spending it on programs. So that gap moves from 2930 up to starting next fiscal year. So again without making any changes in this theoretical exercise right we would have work to do. Now again in reality we will

096be making reductions and adjustments so that we pass a balanced budget. But if the theoretical question is if we want to do everything we say we we're currently doing what would that cost us compared to the revenue we have? >> So articulates the amount of funding that we have to make up through reductions or adjustments to budget line items so that we can try and close that gap. >> So, next school year, theoretically, we need to make up $292,000 >> to maintain >> the 4% in fund balance and just maintain what we're currently doing. >> These all get worse as we move forward. Just just because my mind goes here the 4% that in this model we're putting away are we assuming >> interest like money on that within the savings like does the model

097include >> the model does not include the interest it does not include receipts only from property taxes >> okay so it doesn't really show the interest we'd be making on that money whether it's CD savings whatever it is >> there is a there's a um baked into our assumptions model. There is a percentage year-over-year interest, but but for this it doesn't include like an additional set aside on that. It's more um just a standard inflationary um interest in uh increase year-over-year. So then the next model shows that maintain maintenance of our current reductions, what we're currently doing, rebuilding that fund balance and saving an additional 500,000 for capital projects as a set aside. So clearly it's going to take what we just saw and push it uh increase the gap by 500,000. in the next

098slide. So from quarter of a million to 800,000. Third model, again we're looking at maintaining the monies to the savings for capital, maintaining the money to keep ourselves at 33%. and identifying that in inflation uh hits our supplies, materials, dues and fees and those kinds of things as well. Um what we built into the assumptions around salaries, benefits, purchase services and those are already included. This would be a percent of potential hypothetical CPI 2.5 increase just to maintain what we're doing on the educational and programming side. So it pushes it down on the next slide pushes it that gap even greater. And now a brief TV timeout to just take a step back and explain the V adequacy model. ISB adequacy model comes out of the evidence-based funding um formula. It is tied to 34

099factors that are calculated based on your student population, the region of the state you're in, some of the expectations in terms of costs, etc. It calculates this in a theoretical model that says you have 1,500 kids, you should have two nurses, as an example. Well, we have three locations. So, we could choose to staff it at two people and have them split time. Our local choice has been we need three nurses. We need one at each of our facilities. So it doesn't dictate that you must do these individual things. You still have that local control to say this makes sense for us in our setup. This is how we have expected services to be. But it does identify a total cost that the state says to provide an adequate education, this is the dollar amount

100that you should be um spending on education. So that percent of adequacy um is the gap between what we actually have, what we're actually spending, and how far away we are from this adequacy target. On the next slide, you'll see that we've been close to adequacy. It does rise and fall with student enrollment because a lot of the factors are based on how many students you have and for x number of students you need to have x number of teachers, nurses, principles, services, etc. But over time, our adequacy gap has been about 10%. Which on the next slide equates to about 2.19 million less in FY25. This is the um frustrating understandably so discussion that is had being had all around the state which says we know the amount of money we get from federal

101and state is very very minimal. We know that our local property taxes make up 88% of our total budget and are significantly impacting our local residents. But to get to that adequacy, that 10% gap, if that's what the state says is the target, there's 10% or just about $2 million that's needed. Where does that come from? And it's not coming from the feds. We've heard that it's not coming from the state, even though that's what they target us to have. And it, if I just get a little political, it should come from the state. That is the underfunding that we're seeing. But without it, if we want to hit adequacy, there's only one other source of revenue that we have. And so that 10% gap, that $2 million for us is significant. You hear it

102in CPS, they're at about 78% of adequacy. So that gap is what we see in remember the last slides about MCAT where they say they're going to give us this much money but they give us this much money. Well that gap has to come from somewhere. It comes from local. And what we've heard again and again from the state is it's tough times at the state. We're not we're not going to be able to be giving you more in the way of of revenue. So we would argue that that 10% should be coming from the state but is currently a gap. So we ran those numbers just as a again as a target as a way to kind of define why we're asking. We just want to get to what the state says is adequate.

103So that shows a $2 million on top of the savings for fund balance uh and capital. You go to the next slide. >> So down. >> Yes. >> Is there like if you're not at adequacy like what are >> besides just not like what are the implications to us as a board or to a community like just so every theund people that are watching us Yeah. when they have questions about this like what is the what is the impact of being under under adequacy >> or is there penalty? >> No, there's no penalty. There's no um there's nothing that comes from um >> like do you get you get a gold star if you% it what what that gap defines is how much the state is going to contribute through the evidence-based funding model. And

104sadly with us at 10% we're still only in tier two. There are districts that are at 60% or 70% of the funding that they're supposed to be getting. So the state is funneling in that >> in that evidence based funding model >> to be doing as well as we are. >> well, but it doesn't hurt our kids. It doesn't hurt our kids. >> It doesn't hurt the kids. And this >> but it of funding funding from a fun >> when you see wellresourced districts that have fund surpluses. They may or may not be as heavily reliant upon local property tax because they may have industry. They may have uh large corporate contributors or their property taxes fund their district at a level that far exceeds what the state says is necessary. >> I just want

105to make sure that people that >> right >> are understanding what this means as >> Yeah. And that's why the inequity in the state exists is because the expectation is that the gap needs to be filled somewhere. The gap is variable and it needs to be filled. And if the state isn't filling it and the local community can't, then that district continues to struggle and offer less and have less programming and struggles to meet community expectation, etc., etc. So it's just a theoretical target to use in comparison to the other kinds of models that we have. So obviously at $2 million uh on top going to get us there even further. And just because I'm a glutton for punishment uh if I were to win the mega lottery and could donate to district 23 uh

106about 30 million. Um then we would be in a position to offer innovative programming which adds an additional 500,000 above adequacy that would give us the ability not only to be adequate and to maintain but to expand programs, new services, add an enhancement to facilities, all of those kinds of big dream types of things. and that we can't even afford right now uh currently in this model. So that's the overall downward trend, right? We get it, >> right? >> It makes sense. If we're going to spend more money and our revenue stays the same, it's going to push us further and further and further into debt. So, thanks for coming out. So, what does that look like? Well, it's a combination. It's got to be a combination of things because there isn't enough likely well,

107there's there's not enough of any one thing. We can't even cut our way reduce programming our way out of the kind of structural deficit that we are currently seeing. Now hopefully insurance costs get a little bit normal and fuel costs come back down and right some of those assumptions that we're making on the higher rates of costs can come back into reality. But again, assuming that that doesn't happen, there has to be a combination of increase in revenue, reductions in programs and services, and or modifications to the assumptions that we make. That if we don't want to put to hit 33%, we say we want to hit 30%. Well, that obviously gives us more revenue to put toward programming rather than into savings as an example. So, on the revenue side, there are some things

108that we really um need to think about, and we you'll see some of these in our short-term strategic plan, but obviously as a long-term sustainable financing. There has to be some um increase in local fees, not even property taxes because we know our community is largely made up of of folks who don't send kids to our schools. And so there has to be some additional input from people who are using the system, whether that's registration or activity fees. We're going to be suggesting establishing uh and facilitating a nonprofit foundation of some kind to supplement the needs of the district. Again, it's fabulous that our PTO raises the money that they do, but um as you've been involved in other organizations or know of even minor I mean that event raised 13,000 >> twice as much

109and that was a one day event >> so that's no slam on PTO but because you have to have a group dedicated to that purpose but That's one component. I think we've seen Amy's done an amazing job at continuing to build relationships with our local legislators. We continue to stay in contact with them, appreciative of the the donations that they send our way. Um, but there are opportunities hopefully coming that we can continue to do that. We have tax re rental revenue. Um, that is a strategy that we could put more time and energy to. >> Is that a cost though? I mean, that that comes with a cost for cleanup staff. >> Yeah, the the cost for custodial services and utilities is included in the rental rate. Um, but it isn't. >> So, it

110covers itself. >> It it covers itself and and reaps a little bit of of revenue. something that we're in the process now of reviewing those rental rates to make sure that they're in alignment with our neighboring districts as well. >> But none of those first bullet points are going to substantially move the needle. There are elements of responsibility that we have our due diligence to our taxpayers, to our community, not just to say, well, it's totally on the community. You have to just pay more in tax. We have to continue to do our due diligence to identify opportunities for revenue increases, but the largest input into our revenue side obviously is tax revenue. So looking at a referendum or as we've talked about before there are opportunities for health life safety levies that would offset

111uh some of the capital needs that would benefit us in a positive way on the revenue side. Give the good news here. >> Yeah. So, we worked with um our friend Liz Hennessy to identify some different revenue scenarios um based on um some referendum potentials, knowing that we likely will need to um seek some level of uh voter support for a future um referendum effort um following obviously following board discussion. Um we the operational component is the one that we've identified. Obviously, met the um need for the construction component. But as we look to um kind of infuse some of those operating funds with some additional um uh dollars, we had her run scenarios at one and a half at 1.5, two, 2.5, and three to see exactly what those dollars would look like as

112we kind of kick out our revenues. And so what we see if we were to be successful, um we see the uh 2026 levy dollars come in in fiscal 28, which is why you see the significant bump from 27 to 28. And then based on Cook County revenues and kind of what that cycle looks like, we typically receive the first 55% in the first fiscal year and then 45% kind of plays catch-up in the fall. So this this big bubble in 28 takes account um takes into account all of those referendum dollars coming in and then kind of kicking that out. It kind of evens out as we get um farther in uh in in the future I guess. And so in these again theoretical models with additional revenue offsetting the increased expenditures uh we

113see that we stay above water in this base model using that surplus uh or using the additional revenue generates a surplus for us. Although still elements requiring clearly continued attention because it really just kicks the can down the road a little bit on the expenditure side. What happens? What do we cut? What can we reduce? Again, the largest um component of our costs is staffing. And so the biggest impact uh on expenditures would be reductions in programming. We would be looking at fewer core teachers reducing or eliminating non-mandated programs whether those are curricular or extracurricular uh I'm sorry uh for non-mandated curricular programs and then reducing or eliminating extracurricular programs. Um all of these are not only, you know, impactful to the budget, but they're impactful to the kids' experience. They're impactful to our reputation.

114They're impactful to the uh community's sense of how we're doing as a district. Uh the other area is looking at our transportation costs. that is first and foremost a driver of no pun intended of a lot of the increase. We have set guidelines around that for travel times. We've set guidelines for what we expect there to be in terms of numbers of kids on buses and the number of stops that a that a route makes. Um we could reduce transportation costs by cuts to the number of routes we have by uh ex expanding the amount of time kids may be on buses, those kinds of things. Uh we can look at reducing our allocations to curricular supplies materials. Currently, as as you've seen through Craig's um presentations, we're on a six or sevenyear cycle for

115curriculum adoptions. Uh if you extend that time and you go eight or nine years in between or you replace curricular purchases with indistrict developed curriculum, there are cost savings there. I think in both of those cases, you're also likely seeing negative uh impacts to the quality of the instruction and the and the stress that happens in the in the classroom. But again, when cuts are necessary, these are the kinds of things that we would have to be looking at. Uh an area that we've been looking at and would have to look uh at through a different lens is our uh support of technology in the district. um onetoone device that we added during COVID is a potential obviously that's a cycle of replacement that would potentially generate um reduce our expenditures >> and then as

116we've been doing we'd have to continue to defer phase maintenance projects um slow down the cycles that we have for the maintenance of the facilities, the uh classroom environments, you'd have to slow that down. So, the short list of what would we have to cut would be uh within this within this realm if we're really going to make an impactful um reduction in expenditures. with the um referendum. So what kind of a referendum is it? Are we increasing the visational rate increase? >> It is. Okay. >> Again, the third area that we could look at that would change the trajectory of those theoretical uh charts is looking at lowering our fund balance target. anywhere between 25 and 30%. Uh actually we just forecast five just shared um >> you just said more and more districts

117are going to a 25% fund balance target you're not seeing the number of districts anymore with fund balances north of 50%. So, we're seeing those come down. >> The current goal that we have of setting aside 500,000 into a capital project fund, obviously, we could cut that in half and put 250 in and that would be a potential, you know, to change in both revenue and expense just by shifting that assumption. And then again we know we have our negotiations and our benefits packages that we need to negotiate. We have purchase services, our transportation costs and those other uh elements that we are projecting out. If we shift those assumptions and benefits don't go up 10% but they only go up 5% then that would be uh beneficial to both the re on the revenue

118and expenditure gap balance. So there are all three of those components are likely necessary to uh come into play as we shift from a theoretical into the actual budgeting. So, of all of the presentations, kind of the the biggest um uh spoiler alert that everybody knew kind of going into this is that we have this structural deficit as many of the districts around us do and many of the governmental agencies do between revenue and expenditures. Even with reductions in programming and staffing, our fate fate federal and state funding, which had been more dependable, is still a bit more in flux these days. So, continuing to maintain our new baseline will require reductions, either increased revenue or modified assumptions. That's just to maintain. And then if there are different expectations um such as for example well

119we want to just hit adequacy um that will need to drive even further action planning. And the last slide we consolidated our key takeaways to one slide. Oh good of us. because you said I couldn't have 45 slides at this point. So, uh, again, knowing that that's a lot of information, um, our plan and thought is to, um, get just overarching questions and discussion from tonight and then bring um a a more targeted discussion to our June board meeting to give direction in July and August. uplifting as the trilogy of Star Wars, but that's really number six. It's actually the Sith is number three, right? >> Which is so we'll start another three part >> with vengeance number three. >> Okay. So question go >> I love it. >> Trilogies. I first thank you for

120that. While not extremely uplifting, it was I think very informative, not just for the seven of us here, but for anyone that chooses to watch and follow along. So, thank you guys for putting the time into the trilogy. And sorry it took us so long to get to that third part, but any discussion, any questions? Yes. Yes. Let me collect a coherent question. Sure. Anyone else? >> I do have a question. I just want to make it concise. >> I think it was pretty thorough. It helps give us paints a picture of sort of the options we have and you know limited flexibility. So um you know the best thing we all have to understand is have to be flexible. We don't really know what's coming. So it gives you gives you some pictures to

121sort of feel your way through it. So >> So is the establishing a nonprofit foundation I mean that clearly others are doing that and have done that successfully. Do you have a projection or an idea about what we could target with that? I I would in similar districts they tend to see let's call it $100,000 a year in an annual gala fundraiser event planning kind of thing. You'd have to have that the cost of hosting and coordinating those things be built into the process. Um but >> but you have a pretty strong unteer base in the district. >> Yeah. And and other districts our size have foundations. They do raise about $100,000 a year. It's a lot of work and it again doesn't solve all the problems, but it does give some direction for non-ax

122local contribution to benefit the the schools. >> And it builds an arm for corporate support. Is it 513? >> Yeah. >> Do you have a like a who who is looking for the state federal and private grant opportunities? Is it ad hoc or is there like a strategy for identifying them? >> No, it has been it has been ad hoc for now. It's part of it's embedded in the work that I do in monitoring stuff at the state level. >> Amy, Craig, and Chris are all tuned into that. But a strategy that some districts have used is to hire someone who is a grant writer. >> Now with with I though you could we could probably come up with on some >> I our challenge has not been finding the grants. Our challenge has been

123qualifying for those grants >> because we're a stable community because we have >> good programming. >> You're not you're not in you're 10% not 30%. >> Correct. So we frequently don't qualify for the grants that we're identifying and applying for. Do we have a feel for like how our surrounding districts are doing with this? Are we in better shape than they than a lot of them are? >> Are we in a better shape? No. >> No. No. No. Not at all. There. I mean, in large part again because they have passed referenda, some of them multiple times in the last two decades. >> And they have a commercial. So they they've always had a leg up on us in that way and we have that data like when they did pass those referendums what type

124of election that was because I know we had discussed that our referendums hit on non what major >> um and that is a difference right that gives us >> some maybe not a fair question and I will ask it it's What is the like X factor that we're not thinking about? Like a high school district that may also be trying to pass a referendum or >> a community referendum or like I have no knowledge of how this impacts us, but like this fair stuff. I know there's a ton of stuff with school districts being involved in that. I hope that impacts us at all. Like what are those things that like we're just not even thinking about that like could positively and impact negatively impact this. Well, I I think I mean the the bears

125doesn't touch us at all. There's only a small tiff in our community that has gone undeveloped. We've negotiated impact fees if it were ever to move forward. So, that's not really element. I I think one of the factors particularly in our Prospect Heights portion of the community is that they carry a heavier percentage and weight of tax impact than is the norm because the lots are larger because they're one and a half. The density of the community is less than it is in other communities. there are fewer residents to pay for the same services programs and so it disproportionately impacts a smaller number of people to continue to pay. So that impact on the homeowner that everybody feels is even a harder impact for folks that have either more expensive homes and are picking up

126more of the burden because they just don't you don't have the volume of taxpayers to share the burden with. That's why a $400 million just pick a number tax impact is probably going to be a similar rate across all of that large area as is a $2 million ask for us. So they don't it it doesn't make sense to a homeowner that's saying how can you be asking for this much and it costs me so much more and they're asking for a huge amount of money but it doesn't cost me as much because it's shared among >> tens and thousands of residents hundred thousands of residents >> as opposed to our taxing body which is really tight. So I think that's one factor that is has consistently been a challenge for us. I think the

127other X factor has been we've we've been very engaged with and purposeful in our thinking and planning for our referendum asks. We've shown reductions in those asks each time. Uh but the variable that we haven't tested yet is the November window. We've gone only in the uh spring elections and historically and uh the consultants would would all suggest our odds of being successful are better in November. Not guaranteed by any stretch. We still will have to do our due diligence in educating the community and connecting with our our taxpayers and available to explain and tell our story. But that's another X factor that we have not yet tapped into. >> You're good. >> Okay. I just want to make sure I included you. I just want to make sure >> anybody else that has asked

128or has. >> Well, thank you guys so much. I know we have lots more to talk about in the coming months and time as we continue to move forward. So, thank you guys for that great presentation. >> It's way better than the sustainable financing presentation that Michael and I did in >> looked at September or no uh a Was it August or September? >> I think it was September. Was it >> of 2018? We did a very similar sort of presentation at the time that had the same kind of got these variables that >> expenditures and costs and >> so this is way better working with >> No, it didn't have a vote theme. It didn't have a vote theme. So, this made it. >> All right. We have an action item for um entertainment

129resolution. So, this is the >> It's all right. >> Is that okay? >> Yeah. Great. >> Yeah. All good. Um Okay. So, annually uh we bring a resolution uh requesting um kind of authorization to release vouchers uh on a weekly basis. And so, this bill payment resolution just kind of stipulates the conditions for doing so. Second by Spencer. Any conversation or questions? >> Dr. Summers. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Peters. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Morsy. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Dr. Long. Mrs. >> Motion carries seven. Next one is the stipens. >> Yes, there was no increase to um the stipen pool for the contract. The extra duty committee did meet uh to review the offerings for next year. So, we're presenting uh for action again approval of the PHA and board stipens for

130next fiscal year. No uh no dollar increase by second by any >> not this year but but one but >> we will we will likely need a girls wrestling >> coach because they will now >> have separate >> be moving to separate events. >> So, we'll have to be >> thinking about that, >> right? Amy, >> but we have the reigning state champ. >> Do it. You can do it. >> Oh, I don't know. I wrestled in >> eighth grader. Yeah. >> Yeah. I'm not coaching. >> I wrestled in high school. >> Did you? >> Stop it. >> I love that. >> Um, but no, Harper's moving on to high school. So the state >> but still she took third in state this year. So she's got >> she's got it >> her eyes goals.

131>> All right. Get a roll call, please. Is there no other discussion? >> Dr. Long. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mlan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Peters. >> Yes. >> Mr. Nord. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mory. Yes. >> Yes. Motion carries 70. Next up is the uh director vote for the budget. >> We reviewed NSIO's budget last month. There's been no change to that. So, uh asking for approval so that we can submit that vote via Carol at their next meeting. >> I'll save a little bit in case. So, I'll prove that our board representative Second by any discussion >> I trust Carol >> anything doesn't come >> he just didn't want it to be tied to you only >> right like that only you could do about any other discussions All right.

132Can I get a roll call, please? >> Dr. Summers, >> yes. >> Mrs. Peters, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mory, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mlan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Felinsky, >> yes. >> Dr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Motion carries 70. Next up is our amazing food service contracts with our great fruit we have back there. >> And they really have been U. a fantastic partner. We we just, you know, have have really seen Marisol in particular really blossom. This was her first um the first district that she was in charge of and first year she kind of got her feet under herself and she is taking taking off doing really good things. >> I will add the second launch >> never Oh, I'm so glad. We've seen a really nice increase in our participation as well,

133both >> my daughter. >> So, um, so as was previously mentioned, the original agreement with organic life was a fiveyear or uh term. requires us to renew annually and then provide that documentation to them. So what's before you is just an annual increase reflecting a uh a price increase of 3% that will go to approval to approve the contract. Oh >> you got to discuss that. >> Okay. I move to approve the contract for LLC for 2026 2027 school year. Second >> second by Tracy. Any discussion? Great. I get a roll call, please. Dr. Long, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mory, >> yes. >> Mr. Dr. Summers, >> yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Then we have a school lunch fee. >> Yeah. So we um we we pre previously we were able to include

134school lunch fee recommendation with the registration fee recommendation. However, because of the timing of the uh vendor renewal coming through, we've kind of broken those into two. So this um school lunch fee recommendation reflects uh the small increase that we're seeing from organic life. Um and we are required um by ISBY to increase those fees um at least a certain amount every year to kind of keep on top of inflationary uh swings. So that's presented here as well. >> Do I have a motion? >> Move to approve the student meal fees. >> Moved by Spencer, second by Bren. Any discussion about the meal? Great. >> Mrs. Peters, >> yes. >> Mr. Gardmar, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mlan, >> yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Dr. Long, >> yes. >> Dr. Summers, >> yes. >> Mrs.

135Mory, >> yes. >> Motion pass 70. >> Next up is work order on scheduling management. >> This is a nice Shout out to >> Chris Alms who continues to uh really refine our our contracts. Um you know >> it's not necessarily um huge dollars but every positive movement makes a difference. And so appreciate his effort to negotiate a lower increase and uh locking into our new contract with our device management work order and scheduling management platform. >> Do I have a motion? I motion to approve a 5year agreement with Instant IQ for the cost of $71,37 by Mary by any discussion. Can I get a roll call, please? Mrs. Bwinsky. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mlan, >> yes. >> Dr. Long, >> yes. >> Mr. Normark, >> yes. >> Dr. Summers, >> yes. Mrs. Peters, >>

136yes. Morris, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Next up, we talk about this finance, the emp >> again. Um, thanks to Chris and his team as we have worked to um as we work to um kind of bring our uh networking capabilities up to um I don't want to say up to speed, but we've kind to modernize them at all buildings. We're currently in process of doing that now at Ross and Sullivan. Um Chris has been working to modernize the network closets as well. So this is a quote that included in his fiscal 27 budget um to upgrade uh UPS um units as well as the network uh racks. So those are here and will be provided from EMP. Any questions for Chris at all? I have a motion to approve the contract with the

137purchase of networks and unit 129. Any discussion or comments for Chris? Good work. >> Thank you. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your hard work, Mrs. >> Mr. Mrs. Peters. >> Yes. >> Dr. Long, >> yes. >> Mrs. Binsky, >> yes. >> Dr. Summers, >> yes. Um, next up is the long awaited intergovernmental agreement between Prospect Heights 23 and the park Arlington Heights Park District for Parks long long. It was actually in at our board meeting in May of 2025 >> that we authorized the purchase >> and the land swap and began this process of negotiating >> 12 months not bad. >> So thank you to Amy >> when >> yes it was it was it was 2024 when we started. So, thanks to Amy seriously for uh sticking on this topic and

138uh following it through to come up with what will be a fair and um mutually beneficial agreement between us and the park district. >> Yeah. So, as you guys recall, we had a long-standing agreement for field usage um over at the soccer field um just south of uh Betsy Ross. And so this agreement actually replaces the field usage agreement and then also incorporates usage terms for Patriot Park. So this is um comprehensive field agreement um with the park district. So we're excited to kind of get that moving forward. >> I think that was one of the things we talked about in finance that was important as it like combines everything. >> All right. Can I get a motion? Park district. >> All right. Um, any discussion? >> Yeah, we still have a lot that way.

139Um any discussion about the intergovernmental agreement, not any other business. >> Thank you for your work on that. >> Can I get a roll call, please? Mrs. Peters, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mory, >> yes. >> Dr. Summers, >> yes. >> Mrs. Mlan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Binsky, >> yes. >> Dr. Long, >> yes. Next up is our consolidated grant application. >> And since we haven't given him a shout out yet tonight, Dr. Curtis gets a shout out for his work on the consolidated grant. This is for our title, federal title dollars that flow through the state of Illinois to us. Uh this consolidated application uh is completed annually and then filed with ISBY and that then kicks off the formal process of the writing of the rest of the grants for next fiscal year. >>

140I know. I know, right? >> So tiny. >> It's like 4.5. >> Yes, it's tiny. It doesn't print well. >> It doesn't really even look that good on a screen either, but He called you all out for all your >> I needed to go home and get ready all the things. Can I get a motion 54 pages of tiny tiny print? >> A motion to approve the consolidated grant application as presented by Tracy. Do you have any discussion? Great. Roll call, please. Mrs. >> Yes. >> Dr. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mr. >> Mrs. Mory. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Motion carries 70. The last item is an information item. >> And thanks again to Craig and Chris and who um provided just the update on our summer programming uh that will include some bilingual services, our

141extended school year for special education students as well as some supports to our uh other students through the targeted plan at >> any old business. New business is the press policy that Zara so gratefully shared all of her amazing insight on. So first read there and the recommendations to adopt um as presented and where there were questions uh that we need to respond to. Those are included uh in there as well. >> Um all right, nothing else. will move into executive session um to discuss this profile of the superintendent and there will be >> there will be no action. Can I get a motion to move into executive session? >> I move that we move into session by Mary. Can I get a second? Second by roll call. >> Mrs. Mory. >> Yes. >> Mrs.

142Mlan. >> Yes. Mrs. >> Yes. >> Dr. >> Mrs. Peters. Summers. Yes. at 9:30 p.m. >> cardiac arrest >> displayed. Set it up like we did