001good evening I call to order the Board of Education meeting for prostect heits school district 23 on March 13 2025 at 7 on the button roll call please Mrs binsky here Mr ganis here Dr La here Mrs mlan pres Mr nordmark here Mrs Peter Scot Mr Noak and here all right all right our Pledge of Allegiance is going to be led tonight by a representative of the musical and then we'll talk a little bit about U why we invited so few people tonight uh but we have a little song for them that we're going to watch a recording of the whole production so we'll start with the pledge led by Amry I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible
002with liy and justice for all so while Mr alms is pulling up our video to watch U you'll recall in the past when we've invited the musical kids in there are 50 of them um and that is really tight in a small room like this so instead we ask for a snippet of one of the big hits from the show and then we asked for Representatives each from the the crew the cast the stage and set um but we have one representative with us and then of course a couple of our directors that we'll hear from so first let's watch this crazy long-haired song I'm not sure who this person is who [Music] extr you don't even know how you feel it's adorable well let see that never CH your [Music] eyes [Music] yes I
003know the hair [Music] might I'm going to see what no it wasn't hey come the of the SK you [Music] you're [Music] you're you're [Applause] [Music] you're welcome [Music] you're [Music] you're thank you so tell us a little bit about the musical it was really fun V part of musical it was like very it's like crazy to see how many people put into like only three Productions that you do with everybody and like like Miss L said like you'll remember like for your entire life sure sure and you were what part of the show Moana was fabulous right terrif in almost every I think basically every scene and every song yeah so it was a t a huge part she did a fabulous job and have you been part of uh stage before any other
004Productions or was this your first time uh no I was a part of Beauty in the be you've been in that before and is it in your future you think yeah probably yeah love it that's great that's great and who were all the directors that helped I know you've got a couple here miss lure Miss miles Miss Allan Mr Anderson and Miss L yeah scenery lighting front of house backstage all kinds of stuff and Miss lur how many kids were in the production overall this year uh overall there were 71 students involved there were um 31 in the cast this year and then the rest in the stage crew and the set design so it was absolutely fabulous working with all the you know directors and the students they they Rose to the occasion they
005went above and beyond we just could not have been more proud and Friday night when the show was ending we were all backstage crying it was just absolutely incredible so so proud of everyone that's awesome yeah 71 would be hard to fit yeah this is true but uh so we're we're very appreciative that you were here to lead us in the pledge for sharing your talents on stage with us board members have have any questions or thoughts I personally like the do those were permanent yeah but no that's awesome nice nice job cool produ our house yeah cuz Ross sees it in the morning Sullivan sees it in the afternoon kind of as dress rehearsals and then they have the big production for the families you know I might have just snuck a little quick
006picture and I just sent it to my niece do you recognize this person instantly she goes yeah that's Mo thank you yeah thank you so much for inviting us sure great job thank you we have certificates uh for everyone let me get here we go an Maria sorry thank you very much congratulations there you go and then these are awesome great thank you so much for coming yeah I me she got she got from somewhere one two three perfect thank you thank you so much thank you guys for coming thank you so much all righty 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 rest the board please complete a pink form and
007give it to miss odonnell our recording secretary want to give everyone their due uh hearing none let's move to Communications so we um are celebrating a lot of things in the month of March um and starting that celebration with uh recognition for this school board uh The District Board of Education received the board governance recognition award through our state organization the Illinois Association of school boards a iasb uh this award recognizes the ongoing training and the engagement uh that our board has shown over a two-year period uh receiving individual recognition were Mrs Becky mlan recognized for her service at the delegate assembly Mr Novak was recognized in the board leader program and Mrs botwinski and Mrs Peters are recognized for distinguished annual Merit in the board leader program so uh we apply to this as
008a group every year based on attendance at triple I and some of the other events uh just continuing your professional development in this voluntary leadership role so we want to on behalf of the community thank you for all that you do and uh would love to snap a photo with y'all and your newly updated plaque celebrating 2425 uh if we could have you all step over in front of the green screen all of us are just the a no everybody the whole board won the award that's why you also everybody got your uh lapel pin yeah look who's ready for the picture now yeah right and you said you wanted choose ground up I heard you say before may he said he wants full full Frid we're the only three that lessen over here we're
009coming they were doing the 8th grade walk up if we go slowly maybe we don't have to do it yeah do we need to like we need a second row yeah do a second row you want to do a second yeah let's do too I'm one of the ones that better okay that is good all right one two three perfect no ground up shoes actually it was all shoes difficulty getting together right yeah one year that was fun and that of course hangs on our wall of Honor here at the boardrooms um the next item recognizes music in our schools month that is celebrated throughout the month of March we recognize our music educators Mr Anderson gar Anderson Karen lure Isabella guon Megan Murray and cam seino we also thank the students and families for
010their dedication and commitment to our music programs as an aside tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. at hery high school we will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of vocal and instrumental music in District 23 so we have a a concert with all of our performing groups at from Sullivan and MacArthur as well as three alumni performing groups a band an orchestra and a chorus uh and then later tonight we're going to recognize Mr Dave Thomas with a resolution so that's going to be a special event it's something that makes District 23 very unique that longstanding commitment to the Performing Arts um deeply ingrained in our culture in the district so we uh celebrate this month especially androw tomorrow night specifically the music uh that we celebrate in our schools March is also recognized as school Social
011Work month and we uh want to take a minute and recognize the important role that these mental health professionals play in our educational setting so we extend our appreciation to all of our social workers Abra zadu at Eisenhower Megan rer at Betsy Ross Rachel Curran and beatric Chen at uh Sullivan and Kelsey Kane Nelson at MacArthur youth art month if you've not yet had a chance to get over to the Prospect Heights Public Library there is uh a wide variety of art on display uh including many samples from all of the levels of our students here in District 23 on Monday there was a uh reception and uh to honor those kids whose artwork was selected and then um from that set of artwork we identify pieces that we hang here at grodski the following
012school year so once they're done at the library we uh solicit permission from the families and the kids to borrow their art for a year and then we uh have it displayed here just some amazing amazing things and we want to again thank uh Melinda lions at Eisenhower Rachel Matthews at Ross and Sullivan and Janet Kong at MacArthur for sharing their dedication and passion for art you'll see a little uh display tomorrow in the monthly minute where Dr Curtis and I um were filming over at Marthur celebrating middle level Education Month and we want to recognize all of the mathur staff for their commitment to middle level education thank them for their work with these students which who are going through what is typically a awkward uncomfortable somewhat challenging time of life I you never
013hear people say I want to go back to when I was 14 that would be the perfect year uh so we are appreciative for all that they do at M also in March is foreign language month we thank Athena Karis for her engaging instruction and her introduction to the Spanish language at MacArthur as we celebrate foreign language instruction this month also uh in the communications packet just a reminder that on April the 3D we will open registration officially for the 2526 school year the registration has been under under way for the last month for kindergarten but grades 1 through 8 next year need to register during the month of April so we'll be pushing that communication and information out um over the next couple of weeks and then officially launch registration on Tuesday uh Thursday
014April 3rd at 10 a.m. also in the packet tonight is um information about our trimester 2 goals uh summary we provide this to the board and then post it in our school scene tomorrow and on the website every trimester we sort of summarize the work that's been done toward the um strategic plan so that's that's in the booklet as or in the packet as well uh and then we have a special recognition from the state of Illinois uh the Illinois State Board of Education uh we're very proud to announce that two of our sixth grade teachers Miss Laura Robertson and Miss Dena trus were recipients of the 2025 those who Excel special recognition award uh they were recognized for the Innovative unit of study that they pulled together last year you may recall when we
015were at MacArthur last year it was the same day as they were in Springfield um and had had sort of a unique experience presenting and then having the kids uh identified on the house floor so um uh that specific project was written up as a nomination and then selected by the state state board so we're very proud that's two years in a row for our district to be recognized with these Special Awards um so we're very very proud of them and thank them for representing us so well uh and while I have the floor one item I forgot to put in but want to remind everyone who's watching at home the five Essentials survey is an important data point that we use we ask all families to please complete that survey we must receive 20%
016uh of our student po of our parent population in order to receive the reports and last we checked we were in the mid teens we were at 14 15% so across each of the schools they vary a little bit I'm not going to say which one is in the lead because people get a little competitive but I'm just saying Ross I'm just saying once again Ross is you know leading the charge uh didn't well you and you have to do one for each child wherever they're at you can you can file it for each school um and that will be open only for two more weeks so we'll be pushing information out again uh but ask folks to complete that and those are um oh I did grab this sorry again uh folks should have
017received the spring 2025 uh d23 Community Connection uh which includes a lot of information about the upcoming uh referendum vote as well as recognition for our MacArthur uh Special Olympics honor for our unified Champions School talks a little about the concert as well as the really successful Heritage night that we had in late February all right and now I'm done that was the last one nice all righty um my guess we're moving on the Comm uh building good sites I guess uh I will tackle that one uh we met on the fourth of the month it was a brief meeting um kind of talked about uh striping and seal coating that'll be done this year um talked about uh just some turnover in the maintenance crew um some areas uh on site to walk around
018at Betsy Ross and other work that's needed it was kind of just basic work um we uh had a quick chat about the electrical for the baseball field uh that uh that the um um Park District is pH ybs yes thank you um would like to move forward with um where they would lay uh adequate conduit underground to be able to do a scoreboard and other lighting um we've talked about that before um and uh and then uh talked a little bit about uh some nonpermanent fencing that uh they would want to install where they would kind of put in bases where the fence would come out every season um uh and then kind of just talked a little bit about uh what requirements we'd have for inspecting the area for uh the underground geothermal
019and and anything else um just touched base on Carol cell Park um uh and uh there'll be more uh in the next couple months on that and then um just uh quickly talked about uh trying to get a grant uh with cook to install sidewalk between uh will and sh be and elhurst so City's initiative yeah all right anything else did I miss okay right moving on uh let's see we've got finance and I think that's Marland he uh we met last Monday we discussed um our preparations for the upcoming budget and we will be discussing that a little this evening as well we went over health insurance renewal and um you know mean is being seen everywhere there is um significant increases expected the P 8% all the HMO is looking to be flat
020and down 4.1% which is something to um you know those are large increases in insurance it's is very expensive um and then we went over our monthly reporting together as a group and that was about it and's meeting was last week uh they started out with um special recognition for uh a Boy Scout from 211 who's an Ino student uh he was uh looking for a Eagle Scout project and uh was directed towards uh Sunrise Lake work with Brian buer there to identify a few projects and settled on Savannah Oak restoration um so they you know the Eagle project you have to put a project together you have to get a group together plan it uh manage it manage the people get supplies and that kind of stuff so he did that um I just
021got the news you know the board update so there's some pictures in there it's pretty amazing the area that they cleared out and now it's accessible for you know more people for more activities so they were um recognizing him for that effort and then there were two students uh that were uh shining stars it was uh a sixth grader from District 62 who's in the def heart of hearing program she was recognized for her achievements in uh progressing in her studies and extracurricular activities but especially for her self advocacy and for others the the her teachers and community members on um what it is to be de and and how the community can kind of help uh people a b challenge so and the other student is a student at um 211 in the their
022independence for Life program which is uh uh a transition program he uh was participating in work-based learning opportunities and is currently interning at Subway and Michaels so he was recognized as well uh then there was a a presentation on continuous Improvement uh program for the step program which is the secondary transition experience program um related to Transitions um Becky Dusk and Nicole Vante are the directors for step um for 24 and 211 that's a grant funded program through the Illinois Department of rehabilitative Services to help students with building job Readiness skills uh coaching on self- advocacy and counseling uh towards postsecondary educational opportunities so they had some statistics on how that program has grown and in 10 years the program has gone from a grant of uh just under $400,000 to over $800,000 so they
023currently serve 540 students from both districts and about 150 of those are considering postsecondary education at either a community or a 4year institution so was um Meg gave an update of the uh strategic plan process which we'll talk about later I think um on our agenda to talk about um they there was a the new principal for her was introduced Jennifer Browning is her name that's awesome she came uh she's from Grove Junior High in El Grove in District 59 but she did work at KK um a while ago and come back so um lots of enthusiasm with her um taking over this job and so think should she'll be a great addition let's see and then the board approved anou with the ESP group uh clarifying attendance policies for professional development days uh it's
024just to get it in line with the certified staff cool right moving on consent agenda so tonight's consent agenda includes the approval of our minutes from the regular meeting and executive session on February 13th the Personnel report and the tuition reimbursement report um we are splitting it kind of M as well uh do we have a motion to approve uh items A and B the regular and executive session minutes have a second second Mrs B winsky yes Mr ganis yes Dr Long yes Mrs mlan yes Mr nordmark yes Mrs Peters Mr Novak AB motion carries 52 52 52 no I'm never and you only got one more to worry about yeah can we can we maybe try one next one get split it on purpose well did he was patient like got it so what
025your head a couple times that's what I hear I'm hearing the meeting went long all right do we have a motion to approve items C and D Personnel report intuition reimbursement rep this is about winsky yes Mr ganis yes Dr Long Mrs mlan yes Mr nordmark yes Mrs Peters yes Mr Novac yes motion carries Senor U moving on to the financial report Brian I believe you have this month yeah I had the bills for this month and there were really no questions I I think just the one topic that just wanted that Amy gave me some info on that I thought was interesting is that just the electrical bills if if you are colossal right here and uh and it's tough right to just because we've seen them increase so one just a couple things
026that we've been doing right that remember everybody here knows that we've been having this led program right to kind of do these Replacements which we hope we'll get we'll get a lot of savings from so we've done Ike we did Ike over the holidays and then the plan is to do the rest of the district over the next year we had to DEC combine the meters each of the sites to um we had to treat those as individual project so right now the four buildings here are on one meter so uh ComEd came out to verify the addresses and they're in the process of doing that and then we should be able to move forward with that okay so yeah so that's the first step before we can do that yeah and so then I
027guess then so hopefully right in the next couple months hopefully we'll see right potential savings coming from over the next year they buildings but I think part of this is getting offset by a new charge right that's coming coming from from com this year called I this distribution facilities charge which feels like that like oh we got these great savings and then the new charge comes in other words this is how we're the L right and so I think just just overall right something we'll just continue to Monitor and hopefully we see some relief with with this led Pro nor the next year but uh the increases in electricity are tough a little bit of information on that distribution facilities charge was actually in December of 2024 um the Illinois Commerce commission voted for a
028$66 million rate increase um for us that equates to about 21% um increase in that distribution um the facilities charge we're also kind of watching the bills because we're anticipating another charge another increase in the supply to take effect in June of 2025 so just going up and up yes you see significant yeah that's maryn that's almost exactly what it is yeah so anyway I I did not have any there's no issues with the bills but just kind of just some background of just seeing those increasing electrical bills and hopefully we get some relief with this led program that us R yeah and so uh I move to approve the bills Brian anyone second Maryland no call Mrs binsky yes Mr ganis yes Dr Long Mrs mlan yes Mr nmar yep Mrs Peters yes Mr
029no yes turn calendar actually before we do calendar update M would you pass that down had to this was a late addition to the uh to the packet in advance of tomorrow night's concert excuse me one of the celebrations that we wanted to um have and uh that was brought forth by the current music uh Vim Department uh went through buildings and sites for the renaming of the MacArthur Band Room which is currently called the MacArthur Band Room uh to name it the David J Thomas Band Room uh and I'll ask our president to read the resolution all right resolution of the Board of Education of District 23 honoring David J Thomas through the naming of the MacArthur Middle School band R whereas David J Thomas dedicated 39 years of exemplary Service as a music
030educator at MacArthur Middle School inspiring generations of students through his passion commitment and musical excellence and whereas throughout his tenure Mr Thomas instilled a love of Music within his students fostering an appreciation for the Arts that extended beyond the classroom and into the culture of District 23 and whereas his dedication and influence have profoundly shaped the lives of countless students many of whom have who have pursued musical Endeavors as careers of lifelong passions and whereas in recognition of the 75th anniversary of vocal and instrumental music in District 23 it is fitting and proper to honor an educator whose contributions have significantly enriched our District's musical Heritage and whereas the Board of Education wishes to commemorate Mr Thomas's Legacy and acknowledge his extraordinary contributions to our students school and Community now therefore be it resolved that
031the Board of Education of District 23 hereby designates and names the band room at MacArthur Middle School as David J Thomas Band Room in honor of his unwavering dedication his impact on generations of musicians and his lasting contributions to the district's musical tradition and be it further resolved that this honor shall be proclaimed at the 75th Anniversary Concert to be held on Friday March 14th in the presence of his family current and former students and the entire Community to celebrate his well-deserved recognition adopted this 13th day of March 2025 by the Board of Education of District 23 wow so we do need a motion a second and then a vote I will move to that resolution second all right super thank youy yes Mr ganis Dr yes Mrs mlan yes Mr nmar yes Mrs Peters
032yes Mr nor yes unanimously seven yes and we will be presenting a copy of the resolution uh to his son Steve who will be at the concert uh sadly Mr Thomas passed a few years ago um but his family is aware of and most appreciative of this recognition uh we're also designing a plaque that will hang uh with the new naming of that I know many of the board members have are aware of Mr Thomas and and have experienced firsthand his care so when did he when did when was he here he I did not know yeah I think his last year here was 2011 okay is that right because then Mike Malik came in right after him in 1112 I think was his of 1971 when he started to June 20th 2010 or June
03330th of 2010 1971 to 2010 you know 39 years amazing yes in Mr no Mr was not but big shoes to Phil since his his tenure okay thank you that's awesome uh the next item is uh the finalization of this current School Year's calendar at least as of today um it has blizzard it on uh St Patrick's Day although this year I think it's going to be 75 and like wind blowing us sideways but we did finalize the date of the last day of Early Childhood classes which would be the um the last uh addition to this year's calendar pending any other emergencies so um the new date that's published is Thursday May the 29th as the last day of our early childhood classes that's the only edit to this calendar to approve the updated
03424 Mrs winsky yes Mr ganis yes Dr Long yes Mrs mlan yes Mr nmar yes Mrs Peters Mr Novac yes motion cares 7 the next item is uh also a resolution that um memorializes our compliance with the Cook County paid Leave Act via the waiver that the city of Prospect Heights adopted uh their board will recall there was an ongoing uh negotiation around the language in and the expectations for the Cook County paid leave ordinance um that would have significantly increased uh our costs the city of Prospect Heights as many municipalities in the county uh did and are able to do uh Exempted uh a number of organizations ourselves uh being one the park district as another uh from the uh current leave so now that they had done that we come back and memorialize
035that that is why uh we are choosing to accept that exemption to be in compliance then we probably don't have to read this one no we don't have to read do we have motion I need to approve resoltion call please Mrs about Mr ganis yes Dr Long yes Mrs mlan yes Mr nordmark yes Mrs Peters yeah Mr no yes motion carries 73 uh next our information items we'll start with the preliminary budgetary guidelines and assumptions um so in the packets is the document that was previously discussed discussed uh discussed with the finance committee it's the document that we um provide and uh uh compile every year that just illustrates some of the factors that um at 98% going into the coming year we're going to be budgeting those at 95% to take into account any
036um uh refunds or delays uh although we don't anticipate any delays just in case um we will budget those a little bit lower um we are anticipating um only minor increases in our ebf funding um last year we were right around $34,000 so we anticipate something um close to that um our CPI that we use uh is 2.9% so because we are limited by pel that is the amount of um additional Revenue that we likely will be receiving from our property taxes when we talk about our expenditures we're looking at um increases in alignment with the negotiated agreement of 2.9% and that is also um directly correlating with CPI as negotiated U maryn touched a little bit about the increases that we're seeing kind of across all of our lines of insurance uh through our
037pool the skit pool we're seeing property and liability increasing at 8% um we did thanks to uh largely to um Chris and his Tech Team we realized a savings uh going into uh next year's renewal of approximately 3 and a half% on our cyber which is terrific that also um opened up an opportunity for us to increase our um aggregate limit to $4 million which is um in uh kind of in line with what the other feeder districts were doing so we're we're we're pleased increase that limit and then medical and dental we're looking at roughly an 8% increase in Po and a uh 4% increase in Dental um with regard to enrollment this reflects the enrollment projections that Dr angelio um highlighted in the February board meeting um and it also is reflective of
038the Staffing plan that was approved which reflects an approximate Savings of just over $80,000 um at this point um no significant budget adjustments are anticipated we are um reducing line items for purchase Services supplies and equipment by roughly 10% um and we've also instituted a 10% reduction in the per pupil allocation which is the discretionary funding that each of the buildings have so that has gone down on a per student basis from $188 per student to $170 so the buildings are working on um building their budgets now for um preparation in the next month or so um nsso tuition costs are in the process of being reviewed we anticipating getting those uh for review uh next month's board meeting um with regard to capital projects we'll wait and see um what the election has in
039store but right now that's really kind of minimal projects the only significant one as Kevin said is um striping crack uh crack filling and some concrete Replacements I had shared that bit with you guys just a few days ago so that's currently on the street um transportation we're looking at an increase um of 4.25% that that was a um multi-year renewal so that's our increase for the next two years which is great um the one thing that we've talked about um is the continued reduction in reimbursement from the state we see the continued pration so this year going into fiscal 26 we're looking at a 69% reduction in special ed transportation and a not not a reduction sorry a reimbursement 69% for special ed and 79% reimbursement for regular Ed Transportation so you know in
040the past we had seen those well in the 80s '90s and so now those have really come down unfortunately so again one of the goals um this year going into fiscal 26 is to reflect um a savings uh across the operating funds of $500,000 with the goal of um reallocating that to fund balances to rebuild some of those fund balances after the recent Capital project any questions on those summary uh the next item is also information as Carol uh shared uh we've been actively participating in the nsseo Strategic plan um and just wanted to share uh an update on one of the particular items uh that is currently being discussed so that our board is is aware uh the governance structure for nsseo is unique among many co-ops u in that it currently has a
041representative board uh comprised of one representative from each of the members districts um but no other uh formal levels of input into the planning and uh operational process and so included in your packet just a uh an overview that was developed uh stemming out of the Strategic plan work where that uh proposal for a tiered governance structure was made um and that the area superintendence um worked collaboratively with Meg to review other organizations structures and um make a recommendation that the board at nsso is currently discussing and and refining uh in short we recognize and value the role that the governing board plays in terms of oversight with representation from each of the member district uh but one of the gaps that we have identified and was identified through the strategic planning process really is
042more of an active partnership between us as member districts participating in not only being not just being informed about what's going on in nsseo but really participating in the governance um and that's a structure that is uh used in most of the other cooperatives in in the area where there would be an operational board that's comprised of District Personnel uh we're proposing that it' be the superintendent of each of the uh member districts and when we're unable we would send our representative so Dr shoka would uh would represent us on that uh board when I'm unable to attend uh that allows us to have a more active uh partnership in this Co-op and one of the words that the word of Co operative in a co-op um is really the one that we're kind of
043clinging to it's been what we feel has sort of been missing we've been near each other and we've been present but we haven't really been cooperating we've been exchanging information and not really working collaboratively or working together and so the goal of this is to bring more direct involvement from the member districts to provide guidance um and feedback to The Cooperative that we formed to serve our Collective students needs um and then we would be making the formal recommendations to the governance board uh and then continue to follow that directed vote uh for all of the budget and the other uh legally required components uh so that we as an entire organization have more direct input more direct feedback as as well as then the directed vote for our representative to uh take formal action
044still working out some of the specifics regarding uh committee structures uh there's some discussion about maintaining those with representatives from both the governing board and the operational board um so they again again this is not a it's not a a goal to um minimize or eliminate transparency it's actually the opposite we're hoping to increase and improve uh information and flow and transparency um so still working on some of those details uh I will say that in addition to the governance structure uh which was one significant focus of the Strategic plan the other two areas that we'll be looking at are facilities uh and finance as board's aware there have been some pretty significant uh construction needs uh maintenance needs at the facilities as well as at this time for the lack of a long range
045facility plan and so needing to identify uh where those needs are what that plan looks like so that our uh member representative cbos assistant sups like Amy uh can participate with a common set of uh expectations so we can plan better for the long term and then the third area that we're highlighting is uh wanting to continue to support really highly qualified staff uh high quality instruction and Innovative programming uh as you can imagine uh the co-op serves the needs of students from 3 years old to 25 um with a wide I'm sorry 22 with a wide range of uh varied needs uh programmatically uh space facility needs uh and so that constant reassessment of what are our needs as member districts that we are collaborating to provide through this Cooperative continue to have more
046long range thinking about how do we make sure that we're able to predict project uh and then support those faculty U at the NSS programs so those three areas are what we're looking at in terms of the Strategic plan uh again the nsseo board is uh having some continued conversations that will likely um then be transmitted to us as member districts we'll have an opportunity to review it to give Carol feedback um on the adoption of the Strategic plan and then I believe it's May that uh or maybe June that they're looking to adopt the new strategic plan which then outlines sort of our next steps any other Reflections thoughts okay Chris and you've been actively involved uh in this as well Amy as well something okay the finance piece of that that's kind of
047parallel uh while we're looking at the Strategic plan the parallel path is the annual budget review uh Amy was participated in uh the most recent committee review uh Chris was involved in a meeting at the end of February looking at programming needs um so that is being reviewed and then once it's reviewed at the committee it'll get distributed to member districts to review as well and then we'll again give a directed vote for Carol and we'll bring that back to nsso probably in may also that operations board seem like that would be the type of thing that meets like monthly a similar kind of Cadence as the governing board right well the the current recommendation is that the governing board would have less to do monthly so that they in our in our current design
048it's a quarterly governing board W okay so they could meet four times it could be more of course it's not but we were trying to think where what's the what's the Cadence of them needing to approve the budget that's only one time a year looking at Staffing plan that's a second time of the year looking at superintendent evaluation is one part of the year so there are a couple of those essential decisions that need to be formally made that's where we would try to line those up with the uh governing board continue to do the student and staff recognition at those governing board meetings but the more operational ongoing discussions would happen uh in a m kind of in a monthly uh Om type of way as well then would you be the primary on
049that or would it be Chris no right now we've all agreed that the superintendent it's going to be all the SS yeah we all need to be at the table and I think again that's a reflection of our acknowledgement as an as a group uh that being a operative means we've got we've got to participate uh and so we've all back and forth in it's like One Direction right and so we um we recognize that it's a commitment of time but it's it's one that um we feel strongly about particularly in the initial years of its design to ensure that it gets off on the right foot and meets the needs of all of the member district would those be public meetings yeah they'll be public on same same type of meetings uh as they're
050currently held great yep and then I I know that you said that the facility plan having somebody help them build that is is important but that refresh my memory on what so we had the big ticket for the air conditioning stuff was that last of school year or is that coming up the big ticket item was last year yeah and then is there anything they haven't they haven't done it yet no talked about it in the right Street they open bids but they haven't they haven't done the work yet but we've already committed the facility um set aside no we we finalized the annual building contribution right but we haven't seen our finalized contribution to that project no no no right but I'm saying we knew that that there was this annual set aside for
051for facili so we will get a bill for this Kirk HB thing at some point for our percentage of it at some point and then is there anything else big coming facilities wise before they try to get that plan right that's that's why we put that's why we sort of Pumped the brakes on it because we wanted to know what's the longer term what are the What's the total scope of work that may be needed before we commit to kind of oneoff right that's exactly what I'm trying to figure are there any more one-offs before we get that plan put in place and so we hopefully have like a more predictable right a more predictable stream of what we're going to ow okay and and that also connects back to programming that you know they
052all have to work in concert what what kind facilities are needed to serve the students and are the facilities that are available adequate and if not how do they need to be enhanced or do we need to look for other properties so rather than them operating in silos we're trying to create this triangle of you you've got your decision making leadership governance process you've got your finance and facilities and then you have your people in programming that that all need to kind of be connected to one another so before we agree to any specific project yet we would like to see the larger scope of work great sense thank you all for your help on that this like a good approach forward all right any other questions on nsseo I should just give a shout
053out also I mean Carol has been our nsseo rep for a long time she is uh well respected among the the peers there and uh always represents District 23 really well so Carol thanks for all your time on that as well absolutely uh Dr Curtis provided an update on uh our grant funding both federal and state any comments questions or thoughts you wanted to highlight um no I mean pretty pretty self-explanatory um you know we we have the funds allocated to us over the summer so there are changes that are made since then um by now most of the funds are in there with some maybe some minor additional funds rolling in we never know when they're going to come um sometimes additional funds go unclaimed by certain districts and then they uh portion those
054out to other to the rest of the districts um that receive funding so that's where we get those additional dollars um we'll see that there's two columns there um First Column is their original allotment and then over on the right is the total allotment uh currently um and there will probably be some additional amendments if we get additional funding for sure but even without that um just to make sure that we uh spend down those those funds as as much as possible this was always one of my favorite I know when you see how it always makes me go are there areas where we're we're like just because it takes so much time to do these yes are there areas where we just don't have time but no unrealized money it does take quite a
055bit of time um especially those who know about working with the state and the complications of using the state systems um so yes Chris and Craig do a phenomenal job developing the grants monitoring the grants filing expenditures uh and we are we are in line when people say they don't want to use their funds send them our way send them our way we're always or you do it incorrectly and you don't spend it within the window that you were supposed to spend it and mhm I mean you can see it's not huge mountains of of uh new Revenue but it's enough to support and supplement some of the activities that we have plan yeah yeah thank you appreciate all uh and the last item is an information item it is a foyer request from Miss
056Kirsten kak back um and Amy reviewed and complied and responded within the allocated time any questions on that just want to just on the the grant stuff again I know that you know that you gave the presentation last month about like the at the beginning about you know kind of the impacts of funding right we see from kind of you know from the changes in the federal government again then then this week there was this big thing about this Department of Education Cuts I mean I guess have you heard anything has any of the other additional news was coming out in the last month changed anything from what you presented to us last month no I think because the the dollars that we're currently receiving were allocated and were already distribute dispersed to the states
057and they're already written up in Grants I don't think that any of those are in question much of the department education grant or those funds are related to secondary Ed uh the a large percentage of them um the kinds of programs that they are calling for the elimination of are not programs that we run currently or would have run um so they're not they're not you know it's like uh it would be be like well anyway uh so we're not worried about any of those current Cuts I think the question will come is they work on finalize the budget at the federal level will there be an overall reduction uh as we've seen at the state level uh reduction in the amount of the categorical grants that they say they're going to reimburse us for
058transportation Food Service um Medicaid reimbursement all of those programs are uh ones that we continue to process uh and then the state or in the in the case the federal may say well we're going to fund that at 60% or 70% um and then the 30% difference falls to the locals to to pick up so that's part of the challenge especially with the current state budget where you'll hear the positive and I believe appropriate uh celebration of the ebf funding um which is great it's what's definitely needed uh the problem is as that is increased and then there's a reduction in reimbursement the net for a district like District 23 is actually a reduction in state funding um even though they'll say oh well you received another $40,000 in uh ebf well that's yes but
059then our pration for transportation dropped by 60,000 so we actually are net -20 so hypothetical numbers um so that's a concern at the state level watching the state budget and then at the federal level we will be looking as we apply for grants for next year um we have begun the process of identifying what are essential things that we're current ly funding through Federal funded dollars that we must continue to do feed kids transport kids um and what are the supplementary kinds of things that we've been funding through the grants that we would have to either reallocate or eliminate if those Grant funds are not available so we're processing and planning that as part of the budget but in our budget plan you board will recall it's always uh uh in all here's all the
060dollars that are coming in for revenue and here's all the dollars going out in those Grant situations so we never budget and spend more than what we're receiving in those grants so those will Zero out it'll just be a lesser allocation uh that we were expecting thank you [Music] all righty we doing on uh do we have enabled business none anything all right executive session um an executive session is required for the purpose of superintendent evaluation and personnel there may be action following close session um I don't think uh there's a ton to discuss but uh we'll break for up um do we have a motion to return to session second in favor