001Meeting of the Proviso Township High School Board of Education. >> So move second. >> Uh Miss Smith, please call the RO. >> Miss Minro, >> I. >> Mr. Tixson, >> I. >> Mr. Okampo, >> I. >> Miss Lawrence, >> I. >> Dr. Fischer, >> I. >> Miss Barberhead, >> I >> Miss Smith. >> I. >> Thank you. Can you please Can we please stand for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We will now swear in our third student board member, Michelle. Do you want to come on up to the podium here? We'll come join you. Do you want to come in front? Please tell us your
002name. >> My name is Michelle. >> Michelle. Okay. Please raise your right hand. Do you sound solemnly affirm that you will faithfully serve a student member of board of education that provides a township high school district 209? That you will represent the voices of students with honesty, integrity, and respect. That you uphold policy and all applicable laws. And that you will carry out your responsibilities thoughtfully and to the best of your ability in service to the students, schools, and community. If so, please respond. I affirm. >> I affirm. >> Thank you. and you are now officially sworn in as a student member of the board of education. On behalf of the board and the administration, we welcome you and thank you for your committ >> [applause] >> Roman [laughter] >> you always I'm tall as
003hell. Yeah, you guys are good. >> All right. One, two, three. >> Okay. Rowan's useful. I don't have to get used to [laughter] Okay, welcome Michelle. Thank you. At this time, we will now move to public comments. The board of education opens the floor for public comments. The board will receive public comment from any individuals present this evening and have submitted a request to address the board for the established procedures. Comments will be limited to three minutes in accordance with board policy 2230. We believe that all participants in the meeting desire the best outcomes for our students, families, and communities. As a reminder, this meeting is being livereamed and will also be archived and available on the district website for last week. [cough and clears throat] I didn't know I'd be starting this off. This
004is not a lot. I'm getting old. Good evening, Board of Education, superintendent, and staff. My name is Kirsty and I'm a teacher, taxpayer, product of this district. This board has changed. The superintendent has changed. Our building leaders have changed. But no matter what changes occur within our educational structures, our reasons and our wise should never change, ensuring that our students, regardless of race, religion, sex, gender, are educated and their voices are valued. In education, we don't have the luxury of saying, "I don't know." When the faces of my students shifted from black to large and brown over the years, I cannot put my career in teaching on hold to figure out what they needed. I didn't take a class. I didn't read a book. I had the best resource in front of me, my students.
005I learned to value the needs of the students that did not look like me by shutting my mouth, opening my mind and eyes, and listening and learning from those students in front of me. When I made mistakes, I didn't make excuses. I own the state, learn the lesson. On Thursday, uh I'm going to be sitting in a P dedicated to cultivating cultural awareness. Not because of my walkthroughs or evaluation dictate that I need that, but to my understanding, it's because an educational leader cannot own up to a mistake in not addressing the needs and ignoring the voices of students that have traditionally been silenced. Instead of wiki meetings that fan the flames on the issue that started the fire. Instead of pacifying them with pizza, apologize and give them the promise of change. Instead of
006putting up bandages, band-aids, acknowledge the hurt that the lack of understanding caused. On Thursday, I'll sit in the audience and take in all that I can about culture. I'm a team player. But my expectation is that my our educational leaders will be sitting in there with me, learning with me, not sitting on the sidelines. We're going to provide some. On another note, I want to say that I am extremely proud of both of our basketball teams um on last night's game. They did an extraordinary job. and everyone should see that our student athletes and our spectators were examples of what the sportsmanlike conduct and community should and can look like in Proviso Township. Thank you, >> Mrs. Good evening everyone. Before I begin, I want to say this. How do you raise a black child
007to love themselves in the world that often teaches them not to? How do you protect their spirit spirit without dimming their brilliance? Tonight, I want to speak not only as a leader, but as a wife, mother, grandmother, and aunt to many. I am speaking as a woman who understands that our black children must do more than exist. They must survive, strive, and stand tall in their truth. This is for them. Margaret Burroughs once wrote, "What do I tell my children who are black? I tell them the truth. I tell them that being black in America is both a burden and a blessing. That there will be moments when the world misunderstands them before it it ever met them. Moments when their brilliance is questioned, their confidence is labeled and their excellence is overlooked. But I
008will also tell them this. You come from kings and queens. You come from people who survived ships, chains, laws and lies and steal roads. I tell them about Harriet Tubman. I tell them about Dr. Martin Luther King. I tell them about President Obama who showed them the White House can open doors. I tell them that their skin is not a cage, it is a crown. I tell them that black is not something to overcome. Black is something to honor. Black is creative. It is resilient. Black is a rhythm, intellect, faith, and fire. And when the world tries to define them by stereotypes, I teach them to define themselves by purpose. I tell my children who are black, you are not what they call you. You are who God created you to be. Walk boldly. Speak
009confidently. Listen fearlessly. Love yourself fearlessly because your blackness is not a limitation. It is your legacy. Thank you. >> I have no further comments. That concludes public comments. We're going to move on to item number eight. May I have a motion to approve the administration's recommendation to expel student number one for two calendar years February 25th, 2026 through February 24th, 2028 due to the gross disobedience and misconduct addressed in hearing officer February 20th, 2026 written report. >> So move second. >> Miss Smith, please call the RO. >> Miss Malino, >> I. >> Mrs. Hixon, >> hi. >> Mr. Okampo, >> hi. Miss Morris >> I, >> Dr. Fischer, >> I. >> Miss Barham, >> I. >> Miss Smith, >> I. Motion carries. >> Item number nine. >> May I have a motion to approve the
010administration's recommendation to expel student number two for two calendar years, February 25th, 2026 through February 24th, 2028 due to the g gross disobedience and misconduct addressed in hearing officers February 20th, 2026 right clerk. So move >> second. >> Miss Malino. >> Hi. >> Mrs. Hixon. >> Hi. >> Mr. Okampo. >> Hi. >> Miss Morris. >> Hi. >> Dr. Fisher. >> Hi. >> Miss Barbin. >> Hi. >> Miss Smith. I. Motion carried. >> Item number 10. May I have a motion to approve the administration's recommendation to expel student number three from February 25th, 2026 through fe May 26, 2027 due to the gross disobedience and misconduct addressed in the hearing officer February 20th, 2026 written report. Provided, however, this expulsion shall be held in advance contingent upon the students immediate enrollment and successful participation in the
011alternative educational program located at West 40 Intermediate Service Center. number two or similar program selected by the administration. And should student number three fail to attend, successfully participate in, or attempt to return to the district in the alternative education program, the expulsion shall commence without further action by or notice from High School District 209 board of education. >> So, second, >> Miss Malino. >> I >> Mrs. Hixon. >> Hi, >> Mr. Okampo. >> Hi, >> Miss Morris. >> Hi, >> Dr. Fischer. >> Hi, >> Mr. Barbett. >> Hi, >> Miss Smith. I motion carried. >> Item number 11. May I have a motion to approve the administration's recommendation to expel student number four from February 25th, 2026 through January 4th, 2027 due to the gross disobedience and misconduct addressed in the hearing officer's February 20th,
0122026 written report. Provided, however, this expulsion shall be held in advance contingent upon the students immediate enrollment and successful participation participation in the alternative educational program located at West 40 Intermediate Service Center or a similar program selected by the administration. And should student number four fail to attend successful successfully participate in or attempt to return to the district from the alternative educational program, the expulsion shall commence without further action by or notice from the provisor high school district 209 board of education. >> So move second. >> Miss Malino, >> I >> Mrs. Hixon. >> Hi. >> Mr. Okample. >> Hi. >> Miss Morris. >> Hi. >> Dr. Fischer. >> Hi. >> Miss Barbara Hen. >> Hi. Miss motion carried. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. Updates. >> Yep. Moving on into the updates. We have several
013updates. Most of this information was provided in the last weekly update and video. Um so I did ask my team to provide a shorter um synopsis but then also ask questions. So moving on to the first one. Um this is something that will be at the board for information and approval. information April. >> Yeah. So the past few months we've been working diligently with uh pens lifts for proviso east and proviso west to make sure we are ADA compliant over the fieldhouse of proviso east and over here at the deep building at proviso west to get students up and anyone else that might need help. [snorts] Any questions? >> Proposal for B. We are working with EGSL and CDC uh to develop a scope of work for BCT floor tile and provide zone east in
014the corridor on the first floor in between 103 and 113. And the same thing on the top floor 203 to 213. Those floors are beyond their usual life. A lot of uh hills and valleys. to eliminate tripping hazards and get that floor repaired this summer. Veteran Energy is a company that we've been a veteran owned business. We've been dealing with for probably about a year now to capture some savings on the KNET side. The con rebate will be a little bit over $30,000. Uh and the project should cost proise no more than about $2,000 once I have a few small components in there. But this is for your review. um for information. The next item is flooring. Here over at Proviso West, we have a few classrooms that have multiple layers of flooring. We want
015to make sure we move the specialist containing materials and also um the carpet and the carpet padding uh to provide a better learning environment and also a resilient floor to ensure that we do not have any environmental issues in those spaces. Any questions about those foreheads? >> I do have a question. >> Yeah. So, the environmental specialist actually provide a drawing. >> Okay. >> They have to be sealed off the proper way. the state and county inspector when we come in to evaluate that at least on day number one or two just to make sure everything's encapsulated and nothing is actually >> real quick. Do you have any questions about that? >> Thank you. So, can you hear me? >> We are pleased to share the negotiations with our SEIU bargaining union have been successfully
016completed on February 11, 2026. An agreement was made and awaiting ratification. The process was amicable and collaborative with both sides working in good faith to reach an agreement that reflects our shared commitment to students and staff. Throughout the negotiations, we carefully consider the needs and contributions of every staff member, and we believe the contract positions our district to remain competitive with neighboring districts while continue to support and retain high qualifying employees. We extend our sincere appreciation to the SEIU team for their professionalism and partnership during this process. We are very thankful for board members, Mr. Pomp, President Barberham for her leadership and dedication at the table. And I do want to do a special acknowledgement to Mr. Rush and for his thoughtful planning of grade levels and positions and to Mr. Taylor for support and
017coordinating the many moving pieces throughout this process. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Board information item. Uh this is fifth year. Yeah. year five the summer internship programs we started that when I came here it's how I got started in IT um this is again just information item uh but it's to bring eight students from all three campuses um we divide them up between the buildings and assist us with the 1400 student laptops that we got approved um getting our labs ready assisting with summer school and really giving you know more importantly that hands-on experience across the district so looking to continue that program initially we started with four then moved up to six position positions last year. Um he blessed us with eight positions. So looking to continue that eight positions again um at
018a slightly adjusted rate just kind of following uh the local rates for minimum wage at 1660 per hour. >> I have a question. >> Yeah. So this is this will be year five, right? So we four cycles of correct internship. Are we tracking where the students going if they're staying in it? Just curious if it sparks a career which is the hope. >> Yeah, I could reach. So the I some of them stay in contact with me. I I honestly really encourage that letter's recommendation. We like to one of them is David. I'll just shout out David who's been working with us throughout. He's finished he's actually finishing his fourth year at Triton. Um another student Brie Hardy went into um last year this program. So I do stay in contact. There are some a
019big part that I encourage with the internship is really um to be interested in in a career and a career exploration. Um there are some students that come out and say hey I'm I'm going to college for blah blah blah that does not align at all for it. So I really try to align it with you know what's going to help you really understand your path best. Um so yeah there's quite a few I stay in contact with that um that have continued and we're wrapping up now. It's really uh you know great to see hey this kid is now finishing his uh his last year in college based off from where he started with our internship program. So it's really cool to see that >> if we could track >> we have a 70%
020placement rate in IT careers that just cuz it's on paper it sounds like such a great program >> and I would love for us to [music] evidence to like hey this is successful we're doing something right. >> Yeah absolutely I'll I'll get together a list because I have all their contact information from over the years when we started it um and kind of see where they ended up. and get that information. Thank you. >> So the first three years, how many students did you have in year one, two, and three? >> One, two, and three, we had four. >> And then it increased. >> Then it went to six. And then the following year, you guys said, can we do two more? I more than happy to do it. And just to kind of put
021in perspective, too, I know it's a high, you know, 53,000. I'm really looking at from the cost of what the students are going to gain. But to put in perspective, if we had a outside company just image, 1400 laptops, that cost would be over 53,000. So I mean not not at all to say we want to look at cost at all. We're concerned with the students getting the experience, but just from that cost savings alone is huge and getting that experience. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, absolutely. Any questions? >> Do you anticipate um the eight students will be able to get this done because that's a lot. >> Yeah, they got it done every year. So, so we we've we've kind of we we changed it over the they've gotten it done every year. So,
022it's yeah, they work. It's great. They got a team and we try occasionally we have a student that comes back um that's returning or you know and really is able to kind of like lead the group. So, yeah, they do it so they pull it off. >> Awesome. >> Did you have any questions about the student internship? the internship. Um I know you mentioned Friday. Is that only for college um kids or is it also for high schoolers too? >> Oh, sorry. Great great point. I didn't put it in here. It's for once we get a board approved I send it out to all students. You know, we really communicate it out. Um it's for all students who are going into all provisal students who are a senior like recently graduated like I'm graduating this
023school year or I'm a junior going into my senior year. So we we've got it kind of tight to that. Um I would love to open it up to more but um for example last year and I interviewed every single one of them we had I think like 83 applicants. >> So we really get a lot built up over the years like you know the first year we had like 10 and then you know it's really built up. So um we kind of narrowed that window down over the years and it just helps too with you know professional you know working with students. >> Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> One question. What is the imaging software that you use? use in tune. So it's Microsoft well Microsoft in tune autopilot is kind of a we
024used to use SECM um that kind of some districts still use that but it's all morphed into in now. So, it's all pretty much automatic deployment, but still somebody's got to ask that, you know, there still always is a manual part to it. It's it's not a lot of manual, but it's just as that's why they're able to knock out 1,400 of them, but thank you. >> Thank you. >> I move on to Alex. >> All right. Good evening, B community in the audience, administrators present. Uh, tonight we're presenting a contract renewal. Musella is districtwide literacy support uh that provides differentiated culturally relevant nonfiction text across content areas. It has a wonderful lexile adjustment feature. You can basically just kind of toggle to adjust the Lexile based on your student need. Uh we have we
025have good usage. You can see the usage uh on there. I would say I would like to see a little higher, but we do have usage throughout the district. And it supports formative assessment, multilingual learners through Spanish text and audio features and crosscurricular literacy development. We're looking at just a one-year renewal at a cost of uh just over 74,000 74,861. >> Student board members, have you used? >> Do you like it? What is your opinion? Me person the concept. >> Thank you. >> I have a question about it. How long have we been using it? >> I believe it was in the memo. Uh since I want to say 21, but I have to off the top of my head. >> Have we gotten feedback from the students or whether or not it's beneficial to
026them? Um it's something they use kind of split decision. It sounds like here a little bit. >> Uh no uh we we can certainly ask the students we we did talk to that are using it before bringing it to the board here as recommendation, but we can certainly get try to garner some feedback from students prior to it uh going as an action item in April. And do you have any other programs that kind of overlap with this? >> Nothing nothing like this that uh provides this non the non-fiction text outside of curriculum in English. But this is also something for for all uh all disciplines in specific that can search and relate articles in in any of the the disciplines. >> Thank you. Sorry, Bill was it was uh we've been using it since
02720 2021. >> All right, next up we're looking at our cosmetology program. So, this is Miss Roberts of Beauty Academy. We are making a couple adjustments from prior years. A couple of the main adjustments would be the the kits, if you will, kind of working in phasing that rather than a bulk cost and charge right up front. We're going to be kind of building that monthly uh as it's also kind of an award incentive as students reach certain milestones getting another item from the kit and then kind of getting build and charged with that. We've also been working very very closely under Dr. Ortiz and our CTE coordinator working very closely with both and similar with Miss Roberts Community Academy and Kirsten Reese Barber which you'll see in a moment working with both of those
028uh individuals and changing the number of students. So we're looking at 15 students and closely looking at vetting those students that apply. They'll be prior to an interview talking about Saturday prior and then making sure that we have uh enough builtin hours and buffer on the hours because that's also something that we've been looking very closely at is the number of students actually reaching the number of hours required for that certificate. So trying to work with those partners to ensure that all students can succeed that are in this program and all the available hours are there to reach that 1500 hours needed. >> I I have a question. >> Yes. >> Um how long have we been using for the cosmetology in >> I can reference that in the board item as well. You put
029a little history in uh that board item pull it up here. And then I can get back to it. >> Um, have we explored other options? And I'm asking because I recently attended anformational at Triton College who also offers this service. >> They do. >> And um, I thought it was considerably cheaper. So I just wanted to know, have we explored other options? >> We have. And with Triton, it's right now they're they're still building their capacity. I think what I understood it was only 15 maybe 20. Look, it's either 15 or 20 students throughout the whole valley region. So, we're talking about Oak Park, River Forest, Ridgewood, Elwood Park, uh, and the other schools in in the valley region. So, it is not as many students then since it's it would be a little
030bit more competitive against all of the other schools in the region as they continue to build and grow their program. But, we are watching that very closely. Yeah, I think last year we heavily looked into it and it just there wasn't enough space to for our needs, right? Because it would have excluded. >> We did put this out to bid last year and they were the only responsive bidder. >> Yes. >> Are we thinking about putting it out to again >> at some point? Maybe not this year, but maybe next year. >> At some point. I think there's other things that we look at. We could look at putting out again. We could also look at we have done some initial exploratory work to see pretty graduation rates the most recent ones for the program.
031Do you have last year's graduations? I know they were low. >> Yeah, they they are low. We do have that. I can get that from Ruby in the next board update. >> So, this is why we're trying to be a little bit more like we want to be more selective this year. We actually lowered the amount of students that were allowed into the program because it was I believe it was single students that and so our focus here is to work with a smaller cohort of students to find this program most successful. So more of our students that are in the program are told to actually graduate with the certifications. And so in previous years we have I don't believe we've been making the amount of hours that are needed. So we've been doing some
032restructuring making sure that students understand that they need to get these 750 hours per year which means they will they may have to make up hours or they may have to opportunities for them going during the spring break but also getting that commitment from the families that there's the understanding that you're not going to come up early from the program that's taking away There is a 1500 hour minimum seat time that's required by the state of Illinois for them to be certified. And so literally every minute counts and that's because we do we're losing time transporting over. So if we eliminate that house >> Yeah. Yeah. We're walk we're looking at that very closely. They're they're going to be involved the actual interview process, asking to do a shadow day prior to admitting, signing a
033contract of expectations, and the hours to super superintendent Bowhead said as well is having additional hours prior to the school year and offering some optional times during some of the days that we are actually off of school. So, making that available to students so that 1500 hours is attainable for them. Will we have an idea of um the students that may be interested in the expanded certification options and what that might look like? And that might be one of the reasons why maybe I don't know if Triton has the expanded of the braiding and the nail tech or the skin care. >> Yeah, that is something new that's being being offered. So, we're going to going to be taking a look at those applications and see how many seeing how many interested in braiding and
034nails. So, That is something new that upcoming for this school year. >> Any other questions on cosmetology? >> So barbar would be somewhat similar. I all all the specs and everything are similar with the number of students. The same thing with the hours with the interview with the shadow day with the contract. So everything's very similar with our our contract with our student groups. Our last item is driver education car purchase. Uh our current fleet is over 10 years old right now. We're experiencing rising repair costs and leasing expenses and we're continuing to lease these vehicles. Vehicle actually was damaged and was identified as a total loss by our insurance carrier. So, working uh through that. We did bring this out to bid. We actually brought it out to bid twice. Uh because the first
035time we did not have any any bids the first time. The second time we brought it out to bid. We did have the lowest responsibility responsible bidder is Gerald Kia of North Aurora uh for a total of $157,771 for six vehicles. looking [clears throat] at purchasing for each school a Kia K4 and a Kia Sto. So, one is more of a sedan, that's more of a a smaller SUV, if you will, and purchasing one of each of those. We'll be spacing that out upon approval. Two cars in April, two in May, and two in June. And this is something we did budget for ahead of time, and this is built into the budget to get that spent as soon as possible. So we'll get in this year questions. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. Our first
036item, uh, I'm thrilled to say that the credit recovery task force that has been meeting for a couple of months now that we've spoken about in the past has reached a tentative decision to recommend to you. Um, and that is that we change our credit recovery platform vendor from egenuity to subject. across our process subject scored the highest on every category that we scored. Uh we spoke with other districts that use it and got great reviews from teachers, from administrators, from uh coordinators of credit recovery programs. We're especially excited that it is reported to be much more engaging because much more robust student supports and is reported to be much more rigorous than what we are currently using. We're still negotiating cost with the vendor. Their initial um closed price is $170,000. I'm working with
037them to try to get that down to save every dollar we can. I do want to acknowledge this is Carissa Gillespie in the audience who was part of the task force along with many other teachers from all three schools. Um and this is just a preview. It'll be an in March and will be requesting formal action in April and the members of the task force will be able to give you more information at that time. >> How much is >> the pricing that they shared with us during the bid process seemed different than what we actually pay. Last year we only paid $86,000. So it's that's why I'm negotiating Anything further? >> The next item is a uh fully grantf funed contract renewal for Panorama, which is the system that we use for our MTSS
038uh framework implementation here at Proviso. Uh we use it in our SST meetings that in every school every week. The original contract was funded by the aware by the project aware grant. Uh it is scheduled to end I believe in November this coming November because we did get another aware grant. We wrote this expense into that grant and it will be uh the next two years will be fully covered by the project. >> [clears throat] >> We put a lot of energy and time into supporting uh everyone to learn to use this product. We still can do more and we will do more to continue um growing and expanding our skills with using this product and all that it has to offer us. Um but we are uh very glad we got this grant so
039that we continue to have this available to support more timely interventions for students and better monitoring. And then the only item we have for approval at the next board meeting will be policy 7130 responsib Any questions? >> All right. Is there any old business? >> New business? >> Yes. Um, I have a question. Um, and our high school name. I'm not actually against social media. So I have this information. Does anyone know um about the lawsuit? >> I believe that's the mass arbitration. We talked right against Facebook Meta all the >> I think we talked about it when it first came out. >> I actually just sent that to our attorney. >> Adam. Yeah. >> I just sent it to the attorney. >> You just they did send it. >> I did. Yes. >> Thank
040you. >> I said to review and let us know if you know anything about it. This is something I did not know. What about >> exact is this something that the board of education >> we did in uh I think it was two years ago that we said we did not have a problem >> being part of that. >> Yeah. And this it's a mass arbitration. So it's really more of like an opt out and we chose not to opt out. >> Okay. I'll let I'll talk >> but maybe Adam can give us an update. We haven't heard anything because that meeting. >> Yeah, I had just gotten something. >> But if you're telling me if the board is saying we voted a couple years ago, I don't >> It wasn't a direction. >> What's
041that? >> It was not an official vote. It was just >> Let me Let me find out what >> that's been a while. >> Yeah, because it's coming up June 1st. Any other business? >> Anything you wanted to share with us? >> Thank you both. At this time, we are going to retire to executive session uh pursuant to five ILCS120C16 for purposes of self-eal self- evvaluation practices and procedures and professional ethics with representative the Illinois Associate Student of School Lords. So, uh we will be retiring to executive. There will be no more action taken and we will adjourn after we're done with that. So, our meeting has concluded at this time. Thank you. >> Thank you everyone.