001We're good. All right. It is 7:00, we'll go ahead and call the meeting to order. And we'll start off with the roll call, please. Krieger? Absent. Kimkin? Here. Corey? Here. Moyer? Here. Meyer? Here. Schumacher? Here. Search? >> Here. That gives us a quorum. Will everyone please stand and we'll recite the Pledge of Allegiance, please? 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. Perfect. Thank you. Welcome to our visitors. Got a full house. Like to see that. Yeah. Did everybody have a chance to sign in? When you came in, there's a sign-up sheet. If not, go ahead and do that for us, please. We'll move right on to public comments. Does anyone have
002anything they would like to address the board with tonight? Is it just me? You're first, anyway. >> [clears throat] >> Go ahead and just state your name for us, please. Yes, hi. I'm Kegan Miller. I am a mom to three boys and I had the privilege of being a student in the district many years ago, from K through senior year. So, I'm very passionate about the success of the district. Yeah, I'm excited. Um first, I want to say thank you for all you do for the community. I know sometimes being on a board can be a thankless job, so I want to start by saying thank you. Um we have quite a many strengths on this board, from business acumen to real estate, um to public policy. There's quite an array of strengths. So, thank
003you so much. So, I promise I'm not here to butter you up. I'm here to talk about a pretty serious concern. Um I'm here to talk about the concerning message that was found in the middle school bathroom stall last month. I empathize that it was a stressful situation and I'm grateful that SRO and the local police were able to investigate the situation further. I'm not here to whitewash the emergency response. I have faith the professionals know what they're doing there. I'm here to talk about transparency and crisis communications. As I want to encourage the district to re-evaluate how to proactively handle possible future difficult situations. I empathize that finding the right balance between notifying the police, supporting the emergency response, ensuring transparency with staff and students, and distributing timely communications to the greater community is
004extremely difficult. It's a lot to manage in a small amount of time. In most situations, accurate, timely, and transparent communication is more effective than delayed communication. Crisis communications doesn't have to be reactive. It's about internal protocols and preparation to mitigate confusion and offer clarity during difficult times. In light of this recent situation, I'm here to share three actionable solutions that I've seen work well in other educational system settings. First, establishing a task force to develop communication response plans for when safety issues or crises arise. You can also invest in higher crisis comms firm to pre-develop emergency communication strategies for the district. Or you can also purchase a mass notification system that can deliver text messages and email alerts to families and community members. You can preload these messages and then adjust them for the situation
005that needs it. If you have any questions on this topic, I'll be happy to talk shop all day, as I have a background in crisis comm and a dusty master's research project on the topic that hasn't seen light for many, many years. Um you were supposed to laugh I know it's a serious topic, but I'm trying to make it jazzy. Um on a more serious note, since we are discussing safety and communication, I wanted to remind everyone that April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Every 45 seconds, a child is abused or neglected in the United States. Every 6 hours, a child is killed by abuse [snorts] or neglect. In Illinois, about 65% of all calls to report abuse or neglect to DCFS's hotline are initiated by mandated reporters in the state of Illinois. I
006want to remind each one of you, as members of the board, under the Illinois Abuse and Neglected Child Reporting Act, you are all mandated reporters. Schools are often the first line of defense in getting children help and access to resources, so it's important to ensure that all mandated reporters know their legal obligations as individuals. Lastly, it's the role of the school board to ensure that internal systems, policies, and communication practices surrounding mandated reporting are clear, consistent, and effective. I proactively bring this information forward today as a learning opportunity. You can see what's happening in the Carterville School District, just a short drive south of us. And DCFS updated its mandated reporter training within the last year or so, so now may be a good time to refamiliarize yourself with the updated guidance. Lastly, it's everyone's
007job to protect children. Period. Doesn't matter if you're a police officer or private citizen, we all have a duty to protect children. Thank you for your time and I'll send a follow-up email with a few resources if you have any questions. Thank you. All right, thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else like to speak this evening? Going once, going twice. You you did I didn't do the third, did I? Please state your name for us, please. Uh my name is Kevin Bierman. Um so, I am uh a parent of three boys in the district here. Uh my sons Ryan, Oliver, and Lucas. Uh one in high school, one at the middle school, and one uh in kindergarten at at Eagle View. Um I actually just wanted to come up and talk about um some
008of my thoughts uh in regards to the arts programs in uh in the district. I I'm very grateful uh for the uh the new auditorium that's being worked on. Uh I've worked over there with Ms. Dent a little bit to to help get it ready for the upcoming production. Um and I'm excited to be able to potentially work with students to learn about some of the technology. Uh in my professional life, I work for a a company called Markey's. We're an event production company. I've done that work for going on 30 years now and I really love it and I think there's some really great opportunities for kids uh to be able to learn uh some great skills uh in that new space. I think that some of the things that I really wanted to
009talk uh to you about when when I was growing up in my high school, I graduated from Belleville West in Belleville. I was a part of uh the marching band there. Um I was really impressed with the marching band this year uh and the program that Mr. Strauss put on. Um but I uh I've noticed that he is one teacher uh and it would and there were 110 kids in that marching band this year uh and to have only one faculty member uh in the high school who is in charge of a program of that size, like there is no athletic program at this school that has only one faculty member for a group of anywhere near that size. Um so, I think that for the district to consider uh a second music teacher at
010the high school, whether that's an assistant position uh or or something like that, especially with the new uh the new theater and auditorium uh and the growth that I would expect in that program. Um I I don't know how many of you are are aware of this, but the middle school play this year, uh it was the first time, I believe, in the history of uh of Columbia middle school plays that cuts had to be made because there were over 100 kids auditioning for the middle school play, which is an amazing problem to have. Uh but at the same time, if we had a little bit more resources with those kind of programs, it would be a great thing for the district. So, I believe that the arts are integral for kids to be able
011to grow their brains. That creative outreach and that creative those creative programs for a lot of these kids are the things that really help them to understand uh you know, their skills and and it gives them the opportunity to to grow and learn in ways that other kinds of academics just don't. So, I want to say a little bit about that from my perspective and I appreciate the time. Thank you very much. And thank you for your assistance. All right, anyone else? All right. Last chance. All right, correspondence, I believe, is at your table. We'll move right on to our consent agenda. I could read it but why don't you walk us through that, please? You got your minutes and whatnot. We This is that time of year. We have a few resignations. Ty Wolfe,
012CHS cross country and assistant track coach, is going to be resigning for next year. Marla Fischer, seventh grade math teacher, we're sorry to see her go. Joan Shepherd, uh high school math teacher, also resigning. We're sad to see her go. Chelsea Adair, very sad to see her go. Uh high school special ed teacher. Uh and Michelle Breeding, our cafeteria worker. We're very sad to see all of them go. Um Employment of educational personnel, we do not have any support personnel, but we do have some certified personnel. Dr. Gugenauer is in the audience over there. She is going to be the recommendation for our director of HR operations. We also have Caitlin Johnson in the audience, who's the Eagle View RTI teacher. And then we have a high school science teacher also, Elizabeth McGinnis. I don't
013believe she's here. Uh we've got two leaves of absences. Jessica Turner, kindergarten, she's going to have the baby 5 7 26 through 9 11 through 12 6. And then there's Caitlin Wish is also taking maternity leave and that's going be at the beginning of the school year through November 6th. We've got Mr. Fresh who's going to be a volunteer baseball coach. We've got no non-certified class advancements, but we do have some vacancies. We based on all of those people we're sad to see go. We've got cross country at the high school. We've got the assistant track coach. We've got the math teacher at the middle school and a math teacher at the high school and a special ed teacher. With all of that information, the administration recommends that you approve the consent agenda as presented.
014Any questions for the board? Yeah, there's three more that you need to add to that are all turned in their retirement that you need to add to the Who are the names? Uh Lisa I don't know how to pronounce her name. Lisa Vecchio Sandy Dorman Diane German Diane German Sandy Dorman, Diane German are both at the Eagleview, correct? Who's the one that you said the other name? Oh, Lisa Vecchio, also at Eagleview. Lisa Vecchio, and I apologize. Those they've been coming in late and lat and fast and so they didn't get added. Lisa Vecchio Fortunately, we have Mrs. Schumacher to keep you straight, so. Yes, that's why she sits next to me. Given those adjustments, we still recommend that you use the consent agenda as presented. >> Perfect. Any questions coming up? For number eight,
015we'd like to make a motion to approve the amended consent agenda. I'll make the motion. I'll second. I'll second. Thank you, Andrea. Roll call, please. Compton Yes. Corey Yes. Krieger absent Lawyer Yes. Schumacher Yes. Search Yes. White Yes. All right, we'll move on to our communications reports and presentation. The enrollment report is in your packet. We'll go on to our administrative reports, our building report. This is Miller, I see you. Yeah, I'm Courtney Miller. I'm the assistant principal at Columbine Middle [snorts] School. And I have a few things I want to talk about going on at our building right now and have just kind of finished up in the last month or so. But first, our I have some guests that I came with me tonight to share about one of our newest exciting additions
016this year, which is our Best Buddies program. So, I have one of our Best Buddies sponsors. This is Sarah Brandenberger with me and then we have two of our Best Buddies here and then we have two of our students who are their buddies that are going to show some pictures on the board. They're kind of hard to see, but this is these are pictures of some of our Best Buddies events. So, Emma and Alex are going to point to some of the pictures and give their comments in a minute after we hear from Maya Grace Harris and Annabelle Wiley. Hello, good evening. Thank you all so much for letting us talk about Best Buddies. Best Buddies is a worldwide program that promotes inclusion and friendship between students with disabilities and their peers. The goal is
017simple but powerful to create meaningful connections so that every student feels valued, included, and part of the school community. At CMS, our Best Buddies club brings students together through activities, events, and shared experiences. But what has been most meaningful to see are the everyday connections that our students are making throughout the school. When we walk through the halls, students stop to say hello and start a conversation. Those small interactions mean a lot to the teachers and my students. They show that relationships are forming and all of our students feel like they belong all over the school. We'd like to share some of the activities that we've done since starting Best Buddies this year. We have monthly meetings that include learning. We have learned about various sensory needs that students have. This included members being able
018to come into my classroom and our sensory room to experience how sensory tools are used. And at our last meeting, our wonderful speech language pathologist, Wendy Range back there. Um she taught um a lesson on using AAC devices and how everyone can communicate with our students that use them. So, Emma, would you like to to stand up and look at some pictures here? Um so, this is our first gathering. We had pizza and games with our buddies. And Alex, if you want to say anything to you, you can, bud. Um I'm eating. Okay. Can I touch this to move or are you going to move it for you? Okay. Next slide? Yes, next slide is our Christmas party. Over here. So, we had a Best Buddies Christmas party where we did lunch and Emma, do
019you want to talk about what you were doing there? I ate. Yeah, that's cool. We decorated cookies for Christmas. Yeah, that's good. We decorated cookies. Alex, do you want to talk about what's going on there, bud? I'm eating. What were you doing? You were eating lunch. Yes. Were you happy here? Yeah. I don't know if you can see, but he's got the biggest smile on his face. Yes. And you know, we use some different tools and and things to help get everybody involved. So, Ace was able to decorate his pieces well. Okay, you can go to the next one. Move back one. Back one? Yes, I'm sorry. I didn't have quite all of them. I took one out. Oh, okay. Okay, let's try the next one. We also did a Valentine's Day activity as well.
020And then this one is the best. This is the everyday connections that we see throughout the school. Yeah. So, here out at lunchtime recess, we've got some of my students and everybody else out here just playing games, just being kids, having fun. Emma, look at this picture. What are you doing here, kiddo? We served coffee on the coffee cart. Yeah, so every Friday we do a coffee cart and Best Buddy members get to come in my classroom and help us with the cart. So, that's always a lot of fun, right? And Alex, this is one of your fun ones here. Do you want to come up and play? Yeah. What about what are you doing here? Play basketball. Yeah, playing basketball. So, every day at lunch, we have a group of girls that comes to
021my classroom just to hang out with the kids and play basketball and one of my students goes over with an iPad and they just dance. So, every day we're getting those connections and it's really, really cool. You want to stand here? So, hopefully gives you a little glimpse of all the fun that we have every single day. While I could keep talking about the impact, probably the best would be some of our students here. So, I have Annabelle and Maya that are going to share what they love about Best Buddies and why they joined and just why they think it's important. Go ahead. Hi, my name is Annabelle Wiley and I'm so happy to talk about Best Buddies because Best Buddies has been such an amazing experience. And I feel like it has taught me
022how to speak with people who may communicate differently than me and I've learned so many things that I may not have thought to look into before. And I think the coolest thing that I learned was how to use a talker because I never really realized how long it might take to say certain things and after I tried it, I learned to be more patient and understanding. If someone who uses a talker sometimes takes a while to find a word or accidentally clicks the wrong one because there are so many groups and categories and they may not always be able to find the word they're looking for or they may accidentally bump something else. This club is really cool for people to make friends that they might have had a hard time talking to before. I
023genuinely had so much fun this year with Best Buddies and I've made so many cool friends and loved hanging out with them. I can't wait to help out at Ace Olympics and participate again next year in Best Buddies. Thank you. I am Maya. Um I really like Best Buddies because I get to make new friends and it's so much fun to hang out with them and I have known some of them from like from Parkview and I think it's important important because um I think um that it's like they have a friend to talk to and like hang out and like um have fun and like I really like the Valentine's one because we color I like art a lot, so yeah, that's like one of my favorite things to do, so that's like I
024really like being the Best Buddies and I'm really excited for the Ace Olympics. Don't forget Everybody in OUR BUT >> [applause] >> THIS IS A PROGRAM THAT WE'VE KIND OF WANTED TO START for a while and so when Mrs. Brandenberger got her position this year and her cross categorical classroom, she wanted to hop on that and so we're all about it. So, it's been really a a thing for everyone in the school and we're excited to see it grow. Um a couple other things I want to mention really quick um that have happened at CMS in the last month or two. Um I know Mr. Vieback mentioned uh the arts and how Annie Jr. this year at CMS um had the first cuts ever because we had over 100 kids, and I know Ms. Dent
025went back and forth for a long time deciding if she was going to even make cuts or if she could keep all 100 because she didn't want anyone to feel like this is not a place for them. Um but over 100 was really not manageable for her even with a few parent volunteers. So, we did have a cast though of just over 80 for Annie Jr. Um they did an amazing job. This Sunday afternoon performance was standing room only. Um and I think we had some of the other performances that were close to being sold out, but Sunday afternoon was definitely overflowing. Um and this is in the mix of all the illnesses like the weekend after everyone got hit the week before. Um everyone kind of battled with understudies and backups, and it still
026just came off outstanding. Um tonight actually uh previous to this meeting our Beta Club delivered um dog toys, treats, blankets to Helping Strays. Um that was their fundraiser for February um for kindness week. Students donated things and brought in. Um and so they took that all to Helping Strays tonight and donated that. There's a picture on our Facebook page that just got posted before I came. So, if you want to see a picture of all of them, that's on there. Um we also have um St. Baldrick's event coming up on April 25th. Um we have several students that are participating in the head shaving, which is from noon to 4:00 that day, but the event is from 10:00 to 7:00. Um it's taking place all day into the evening. So, um if you can come,
027please come. Um and lastly, we have one more slide, Dr. Gainey, about um our character traits of the month. Uh each month on our half days, we call them our SEL half days, we do social emotional learning stuff with all of the students. And those are the days where we have a character trait of the month. And each teacher nominates one student each month that exhibits that character trait. So, in February, our character trait was kindness. So, each one of these uh pictures is one from each grade level of all of the students that um earned that award from one teacher uh for the month of February for kindness. So, our word for March is cooperation. So, next um Friday when we have our half day, we'll get to see which kids earn uh that
028award for um cooperation. But, it's just an exciting part of my job to help be able to hand these out to the students and see the joy in their faces when they know that something they're doing good is recognized. So. That's it for us at CMS. All right. Moving on to our assistant superintendent report, Yes. Hard act to follow. Excellent things going on at CMS. Um I wanted to start with the SIU job fair. On Tuesday, March 3rd, uh myself, Mrs. Goacher, and Casey went to attend the SIU job fair, um which happens both in the fall and spring. So, we were able to make it to the spring one this year. It was well attended, and I have to um shout out Casey did a lot of organization and help. You'll notice the Columbia
029CUSD 4 um sign to the right of our Columbia table, much easier to transport than um that piece back there. That piece back there, I was like, "No, let's get something smaller so we can put it up much quicker." Um and if you want to attract college students to your table, you offer them pizza cutters. The pizza cutters and the potato chip bag clips really did get them to come over. They were so excited um because what college student doesn't like frozen pizza? Um so, we collected a lot of resumes, and based upon those resumes, we were able to make some phone calls for some of the open positions we have currently in the district. So, these types of things are so instrumental to helping secure candidates um for our classrooms. Also wanted to touch
030base on AI. I know AI, I'm sure you all are aware, AI is everywhere, and it's up and coming. So, I've been working really hard with the tech team um to work on a district policy, to also look at different AI platforms. It's extremely important that we are using AI safe for both students and staff. Um our tech team is amazing. Um every single one of them has has been part of the conversation. We are looking at SchoolAI, which is um a platform that encompasses all of those AI tools and brings parameters. That way we know exactly what our students are using and exactly what our staff um have at their fingertips as well. So, if this goes through, then um we plan on having this platform for students and staff at the middle school
031and the high school, and then just staff at the elementary buildings because we can do um different AI um pieces as a district. So, allowing all of our staff to have this platform was was pretty important as we've been building the policy and having these conversations. Really excited about those things that are coming coming forth. I'm also, and I know I always touch on this, our um ELA curriculum mapping is really going well, and it started with our new resources that the board approved at the end of last year. Um we have made it all the way up to 12th grade. That was my goal. I wanted to get the high school grade level band to do their ELA mapping, and we had our meeting a couple weeks ago, and I was nervous. I told
032them I was nervous, "You're going to be the pioneers for this." And they did amazing. They were excited. They they are remapping things. We're not sure when all of those implementation pieces will be ready to go forward, but the conversations have been amazing. And I can say that not just for 9th through 12th grade, but K all the way through 8. Um very excited about the progress we're making and all of the hard work our teachers are doing. And then everybody likes state testing. We do have state testing. That is our time and season right now. So, we have grades 3 through 8 that are prepping for IAR. I know they're working hard in addition to their ELA mapping. Um and then we have ACT. I found out the ACT for juniors will be next
033week on the 26th. I always like to give CTE updates. I am so incredibly proud of our registered pharmacy tech students. Um they interviewed at the end of January, and they are almost all three of them are almost all done with their pharmacy software, which was 60 hours that they had to do on their own time. We had our CAD internship interviews today. So, one of those students will be selected to start the CAD internship in St. Louis. So, many good things are happening. Very excited. That's all I have. Fantastic. That's a lot. All right. Moving on to our superintendent. Uh next week, Tuesday at 6:00, we will be having an open house for those of you interested in phase one. You want to walk around and see what's going on. We will start in
034the auditorium. Annie Dent's got her play starting on Thursday with opening night. It is um Mamma Mia. It's going to be a great show. However, she has been very clear that we will be in the auditorium at 6:00, and at 6:30, we will be scooting everybody out as they do their rehearsals. Um and so if you want to see the inside of the auditorium, you can either come at 6:00 to 6:30, or you can come to opening night and and see the shows after that. But, uh will be open house on Tuesday. Show starts on Thursday. Uh I got my economic interest statement last week from the county, which means every one of you should have gotten your economic interest statements. If you did not, please let me know so I can contact the county
035and make sure we get those in. Um and then tonight we've got a closed session with a possible action item after. And that's it. All right. Perfect. All right. Moving on to our items for action. The first one is the approval of the 2026-2027 student fees. That is me because we are moving on to next school year. Thank you, everybody. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Um according to the individuals that were um talked to, there is no need to change any of the student fees for the 2026-2027 school year. Um there possibly could be lunch costs that are increased, but they um our food service director would need to do an end of the year for the federal government report, and then she will let us know if they needed to raise their
036costs. This normally doesn't happen. Um so, just wanted to keep you informed with that. The administration recommends the board approve the 2026-2027 student fees as presented. Which again are the same as last year. Yes. All right. Any questions, comments, concerns? Hearing none, may I have a motion to approve the student fees? I'll make a motion. Thank you, Andrea. Second? I'll second. Thank you, Lisa. Roll call, please. Frederick, absent. Meyer? Yes. Schumacher? Yes. Himken? Yes. Corey? Yes. Search? Yes. Moyer? Yes. All right. Next item is B, the approval of our non-tenured teachers. That is me again. Um this is that yearly task where we identify the teachers that have progressed toward tenure. Note that the part-time teachers or anyone who did not work more than 170 days will not advance a year. Everyone else does. We
037have the choice to non-renew prior to tenure. You will notice there are two groups obtaining tenure this year. Um and that is due to the tenure law that anyone hired before July 1 of 2023 will obtain tenure after 4 years of performance evaluations, making the tenure year five. Anyone hired after July 1, 2023 will obtain tenure after 3 years of performance evaluations, making their tenure year year four. Um this will be the only time we have two groups of tenured groups. It will shift back um to being only one group of ten year teachers next year. With that being said, the administration recommends the board approve the non ten year teacher list as presented. Perfect. All right, questions from the board? Hearing none, would anyone like to make a motion to approve the non ten
038year teachers? I'll make the motion. Thank you, Tyson. Second? I'll second. Thank you, Kelly. Roll call, please. Moyer? Yes. Corey? Yes. Frederick? Absent. Himken? Yes. Search? Yes. Schumacher? Yes. Meyer? Yes. Okay, that passes. Next we will approve of the IHSA membership for 2026-2027. Every year we renew the IHSA membership. The administration recommends the board approve the IHSA membership for the 2026-2027 school year. Questions or comments? Would anyone like to make a motion to approve the IHSA membership? >> [clears throat] >> I'll make the motion. Thank you, Lisa. Second? I'll second. Thank you, Andrew. Roll call, please. Moyer? Yes. Corey? Yes. Frederick? Absent. Meyer? Yes. Himken? Yes. Schumacher? Yes. Search? Yes. All right, item D is approval of resolution with GRP Wegman. Yes, and I will Your turn, huh? Although we we we went back and
039forth as to whether or not this was technically next year because I think both of the books will be after July. However, we've been doing a lot of leg work this year with it. Uh GRP Wegman is a performance contractor. If you know, we've talked about this before. The middle school has our highest electrical bills. Um our maintenance people have been doing Chris has been doing a great job with the HVAC and making the changes there. However, there's still more improvements to make. Lighting, changing out the lighting and getting solar at the middle school and changing out lighting at the high school would be quite the benefit. Um we would pay for this directly out of working cash, so we would not need to take any loans or anything like that. And we would see
040savings and we would see the rebates. And so really there's no reason not to do this. I will also say that if we don't act now, if you want to do solar next year, a lot of the rebates and the incentives are going away. So this is our last chance. So administration would recommend that we engage um GRP Wegman in the performance contract for the middle school lighting and solar and the high school lighting. Mr. Himken and Mr. Myers were meeting with them and discussing the various aspects. Is there anything that I missed that you feel is needed to be added? Uh I mean just I guess mentioning we did look at it for all of the schools uh to see if it if there was a cost benefit to it. And the middle school
041and the high school were definitely the most opportune opportune locations. So um we decided not to go forward just due to cost. You know, the cost and then the rate of return for the for the other two schools at this time. So um but like you said, the middle school's been a major focus. It's an energy consumer like none of the other buildings. Um we're doing everything we can to address that, but you know, offsetting some of the cost with solar will help in the long run as well. So Looking at the other buildings, too, we brought in the roofs. [clears throat] So we had you don't want to put solar on a old roof because you'd have to take solar off to then repair the roof. And the middle school had the new roof.
042It's got a 20 year warranty. Just recently we did that 2 years ago, I think. So um Yeah, so that's the only location that really made sense at at this time. So And piggybacking on what Adam just mentioned is we want to live within our means. And this is actually an investment for the district. So this will pay us back. I think the entire payback is 8 years if I'm right with the with the energy savings of the survey. So kind of the idea we had was work within our means. If we did anything more than this, we'd have to borrow money, which we just don't want to do cuz we'd have to affect the tax rate. The whole high school project, our goal was to keep our tax rate flat, live within our means.
043And this is a continuation of that. We need to spend our money wisely, and energy costs are just going to continue to go up in the future. So we need to do what we can to control it. And this should be a really good return for the district and and a huge positive. But uh if possible, if incentives ever come back, we would like to revisit doing additional schools in the future when we have the money. But to just keep borrowing money is a little little hard to swallow. So Anything else? Any questions from the board? Hearing none, would anyone like to make a motion to approve the resolution with GRP Wegman? I'll make the motion. Thank you, Adam. Second? I'll second. Thank you, Kelly. Roll call, please. Moyer? Yes. Frederick? Absent. Himken? Yes. Corey?
044Yes. Meyer? Yes. Search? Yes. Schumacher? Yes. Perfect. I'm learning with the times. All right. Number E is or letter E is the second reading and approval of the board policy fresh issue 120. So it's the second reading. This is the second reading and administration would recommend that we approve it as presented. 660, the curricular content did have its own the was the only policy that had a question. Um we do not do a lesson on the Irish famine. So our answer would be default no. We're not opposed to teaching kids about the Irish famine. It's just not something that we always have in mind. So I know that Mr. Himken pointed out a couple of the policies. Um most of them are really just legal changes. The 480 is the auditing firm requirements. And I
045do want to say that our new auditing firm has um uploading the AFRs and doing all of that. The new state There's a They changed some of the hoops you have to jump through. And we are jumping through them nicely. Um 660 with the curricular and the uh And then there was a 6260, which really um it's the complaints about curricular instruction and materials. And the only thing that changed there was they added a uh Muhammad versus Taylor citing reference. And so um I would say that we would approve all of these as presented. So with 480, we are going to uh the recommendation's to keep both cuz they're op- they're optional additions. Yeah, I would keep both. >> we're going to make Yeah. Cuz that's what we're doing right now. So it would be
046in line with what we do. Right. If there's no questions, hearing none, would anyone like to make a motion to approve the fresh issue 120? I'll make that motion. Thank you, Adam. Second? I'll second. Thank you, Tyson. Roll call, please. Search? Yes. Himken? Yes. Moyer? Yes. Frederick? Absent. Schumacher? Yes. Meyer? Yes. Corey? Yes. All right. Next item on the is our discussion item. Starting off with our facilities study. Open house next week. Walked through the building today and it's looking very very good. The the um There are a few things that still need to be done over spring break. So at spring break, they will start the abatement of the choir room, which is going to end up being part of the commons. And with that, after spring break, the choir teacher does need a
047room. We have a good arts program. We like our arts program. So we're giving her the new room. So she'll be moved into the wing. With the same thing over Christmas break Easter break, spring break. Over that time in April when we have a long weekend, they are also going to be moving the instrument lockers from the current uh band room space into the new band room space. And the new And the lockers that they bought extra that are sitting in there will then get installed. Um And so our band and our choir will be in the new space occupying it on the return of spring break. Uh We've got our our our feature stair banisters getting installed today. They're beautiful. Um And did I miss anything that you feel The gymnasium's going incredibly well.
048There's nothing falling behind there. Knock on wood. That's what they say. Um So yeah. I don't know if I need No, I was just going to say that the phase two of the gymnasium, like uh Dr. Grody said, they've got that shelled in. You know, you can see that they have almost all of the windows in. Even they're building the storefront walls in the in the the front foyer of the gym. Uh you can see that framing going on right now. So it's really exciting. Within the next couple of weeks, that'll be all dried in. And I think the uh gym floor, the wood for the gym floor is getting delivered uh around spring around the time of our spring break. >> Spring break. Uh so you know, and that does take numerous weeks to
049install, but uh they're already talking about their you know, installing duct work and doing painting and stuff like that on the interior of the building. So it's really awesome to to see that come together. And they're doing a bang-up job. So I you know, just looking forward to the next couple of weeks when it's all dried in and some of your scheduled risks declined. Um but we will not be That will not be open during the open house next week. Uh that is still a very very active construction zone. So anybody wondering if they're going to get to see that, they will have to wait till the summer. Um and then phase three additions or renovations, like Dr. Grote said, the the choir room is getting abated so that that can the whole cafeteria eating
050floor will be uh that will be included where the choir room is at now. All on one plane. Um so, that'll be good cuz we'll have more space for gatherings and when we have events in both gyms, that'll just be a bigger common area for everyone to share as well. So, uh lots of changes coming in the next few months. I will say that the um the people that are painting, staining the brick, uh were there today and they were going to start in the um in the inside courtyard area. So, that we'll be able to see how the new stained brick looks against the new bricks. And so, once we get a good match, we say that's the color and we're happy with it, then they will start to stain outside, too. So, you're
051going to see the the the whole building starting to come together much more. Yeah. So, for anyone not tracking that, um we are staining the existing brick to be as close as we can or they they close to a match of the new brick. So, that we don't have very contrasting different colors. Um we're it's a pretty close match if the if their sample is is accurate. Um so, it it will make the whole building uh much more presentable. Mr. Hamilton has a much keener eye to color than I have. I would say it's a perfect match, but he's probably Never a perfect match. Right. That's the facility update. That's the facility update. Perfect. Move on to individual board member comments. Does anybody have anything they'd like to share this evening? Very none. I have
052nothing for president's prerogative. As Dr. Grote alluded to earlier, we do have an executive session this evening for the purposes of appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of a specific employee of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body or against the legal counsel for the public body to determine eligibility pursuant to 5 ILCS 120/2C1. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn into executive session. I'll make the motion. Thank you. Kelly, second? I'll second. Andrea, roll call, please. Moyer? Yes. Corey? Yes. Search? Yes. Shimabukuro? Yes. Friedrich, absent. Moyer? Yes. >> [snorts] >> All right, the board's going to go into executive session now to discuss uh matter. And uh there is a action item as a result,
053so you're welcome to come back when we finish our deliberations and see what happens. We are live. Well, we got the dedicated ones back. Thank you. All right, we are back in open session. It's 8:40 p.m. We have a couple people rejoined us. Uh we anticipated an action item as a result of our executive session and that actually fell through. So, we are going to table that action item for a later date. So, the only thing left is a motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion. Thank you. Kelly, second? I'll second. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Perfect. That concludes our meeting. 8:41 p.m. Thanks for joining us.